Am I at fault for having my friends car impounded ?!

[bakingmama76]

So I got a call from my friend while she was on holiday saying that bailiffs were coming to her house because of unpaid parking tickets, and they might take her car. She panicked and asked if my husband could go to her house, collect the keys, and move the car to our area. I don’t even drive, but we agreed to help her.

She has a disabled badge, and when my husband first collected the car, she told him to make sure he displayed the badge in the car. She also told him not to park in the disabled bay outside my house. I’ve seen her park there many times before, but she didn’t explain why she just said not to park there. Later on, she said it was because the space belonged to someone else, but she never made that clear to us at the time.

So my husband followed her instructions, displayed the badge, and parked the car on the opposite side of the road.
A few days later, the car got a parking ticket. When we saw that, we thought maybe the issue was that the car should actually be parked in a disabled bay since she has a badge, so my husband moved the car to the disabled parking space.

A few days after that, she received another ticket while the car was parked in the disabled bay. I was going to call her straight away to let her know, but because of the time difference where she is, she would’ve been asleep. My husband was at work, so we couldn’t move the car, and I can’t drive. I said I would call her in a few hours, but when I looked out the window later, the car was gone.

I called her straight away to explain what happened, but she started shouting and blaming us. That’s when she asked if we had checked the expiry date on the disabled badge. I said no why would we check that? It’s not something we use, and we don’t know how it works. We were simply told to put the badge on display in the car, so we assumed it was valid.
She then said she had two badges in the car and one of them was expired. If she knew that, she should have made that clear to us from the beginning so we could check properly. We only saw one badge and assumed it was the correct one.

Now she’s saying that me and my husband need to come up with £380 to get her car back before the charges increase.
Am I really in the wrong here, and should I be paying for this?

If she had the money to pay the bailiffs they wouldn’t be taking her car would they?

I worked in a parking department a few summers- having your car crushed for tickets is really awful tbh. A few hundred quid tickets and it escalates to thousands of pounds they can never pay off.

disabled residents were wildly over represented in terms of people made bankrupt/ CCJs/ crushed cars etc for parking fines. I think because the blue badge rules can be quite complicated

Where you went wrong was by agreeing to help her in the first place.

Im sorry your attempts to do a good deed have backfired.
i would have refused because i wouldnt be insured to drive her vehicle even with her permission. But i understand why your DH did so.
I would document everything and keep any evidence of her giving express permission because she seems contrary and could say she didnt give permission and then moving the vehicle would be an offence (taking and driving away?)

I don't think you should have helped her at all. She should have paid her parking fines.

Also, why should the car be allowed to occupy a disabled space when it is not being used by the disabled person?

Is there more to the story than she’s telling you?

Parking bays outside homes are almost always white and therefore advisory, and for it to impounded on the same day as getting a ticket is unusual. So I wonder if there’s something else going on.

If she had the money to pay the bailiffs they wouldn’t be taking her car would they?

Nope. She just chooses to spend her money on things she wants to.

I know of people who owe thousands in council tax debt, they still go on holidays and concerts and have expensive trips out because they simply dont wish to spend the money on bills. This isnt an uncommon scenario lol

You don’t need a BB to park on a street without restrictions.

usually you can park
with no restrictions in residential parking.

On double yellows and restricted areas you can park for 3 hours with the badge and at the clock.

a badge must display the front with the expiry date clearly.

Sounds like she didn’t explain the rules to you in her hurry to get you to rescue her from the consequences of her previous actions.

therefore she was parked in a restricted area and then a BB space with an expired badge.

None of those is your fault. You aren’t to know the rules and I know no one who retains an expired badge in their vehicle.

She needs to get her shit together and so et her own life out rather than relying on other people with 50% of the information they need to help.

Not your fault.
You were doing her a favour that wouldn’t even have been needed if she’d taken responsibility for not getting parking tickets / paying her tickets in the first place.

Your friend's life sounds very chaotic. Why on Earth did she still have the expired disabled badge in the car?

Why did the car get a ticket when it was parked on the street? Why did the blue badge need to be displayed if it was just parked on the street.

Bit rich of someone with bailiffs out due to unpaid parking tickets to complain that someone else won’t pay them!

She’s a CF and not a friend.

Shes already put you in a bad position by asking you to help her evade the law. Do not get involved in her parking drama. If you had borrowed the car, I’d be saying it’s on you. But you didn’t, you tried to help her and I agree wholeheartedly with the poster that said she’s a CF. She would be no friend of mine.

So the two times she got a ticket on your street was because the disabled badge had expired? Is that true? Cos I think the reason they tickets were given is relevant. And the reason it escalated to the car being taken as well (and so quickly). But you haven't actually said what the reason is.

Because it’s ok to feel sorry for people who make mistakes?! 🤔

Bailiffs turn up unannounced, don’t they, so how did she know from her holiday, that they were on their way. If she was so far away, that there’s a significant time difference between the UK and her holiday destination, she clearly has the funds for a long haul holiday.

If the bailiffs were going to impound the car, there would have been plenty of opportunities beforehand to pay the parking fines and why did she garner so many anyway.

Hmmm…….so your friend hasn’t paid parking tickets but she has gone on holiday!!! CF springs to mind. Under UK legislation only the holder of the Blue Badge is eligible to use it so your husband using it to move the car and then display it in the vehicle whilst the badge holder is on her jolly holiday was against the rules.

However, the seizure of assets for non-payment of debt is enforced by the courts and she was wrong to get you involved. Hope non of this comes back and bites you and your DH but as far as the friend is concerned……..you’ll be well rid TBH.

Your friends is really irresponsible. She encouraged you to act illegally by using her disabled badge. She must know it is an offence to use her badge if she wasn’t present.

She is trying to find a reason to manipulate you into paying the fine. Dont fall for this. Also end the so called friendship.

A mistake would be forgetting to pay one ticket and then realising your mistake and then reluctantly paying the increased fee. Thats a genuine mistake.

Choosing to deliberately ignore many fines piling up and continuing to park in a selfish manner isnt a mistake, thats very much deliberate.

Oh and blaming your friends and demanding money from them after they did you a favour isnt a mistake either, thats also very deliberate isnt it?

Are you even sure the car has been impounded?! Could someone else have shifted it using the second key and she's trying to con you out of money?

No you shouldn’t pay but you shouldn’t have displayed any blue badge as the disabled person wasn’t in the car when your husband took it so it wasn’t for their benefit. Also if there is a disabled bay in your street it is likely that a disabled person in your street has organised for the council to set it up for them so totally unfair to park a car there especially when the owner is on holiday. It’s misuse of a blue badge and she could get it taken off her if found out.

Also if she’s trying to avoid the bailiffs then how long is her car going to be left in the vicinity of your house? Maybe she should have sorted out paying for her debts rather than paying for and going on a holiday?

Nope, she should have paid her parking fines instead of going on holiday. Sounds like the car was going to be impounded regardless and “hiding” it by asking you to be complicit seems to be a bit iffy too.

I don't understand why any of the people involved thought it was OK to display the blue badge in the first place. The car wasn't being used for the benefit of the blue badge holder and she wasn't in the car when it was parked.

Incorrect re: time limit. Depends where you are. In my county, there’s no time limit whatsoever to blue badges unless you’re on double yellow lines, in which case it’s 3 hours. In some counties, disabled spaces have a time limit but regular parking spaces are unlimited.

Absolutely not. You were doing her a favour and did your best. Since she knew she owed for the original parking ticket, and it wasn’t a mistake that it had gone unpaid, why didn’t she just pay it? She had the money to go on holiday. It’s totally her responsibility, not yours.

I don’t understand about the expired disabled badge though. If she knew it was expired, and had an in-date replacement, why did she leave the old badge in the car? And why did it matter? Or were the two badges for different things?