The landlady of a pub in Sandridge awoke one morning to find her car had been towed from what she believed to be private land.
The car had been spotted by mobile cameras, resulting in the DVLA taking Emma Low's car from land located near to her Rose and Crown pub and towing it to a north London holding area.
Both Miss Low and her partner Anthony Foreman are allegedly furious that the car had been taken from their private drive less than a week after they had purchased it.
“They came along and took my car from my land," explained Miss Low.
"It wasn’t in the car park, it was on my private drive and although there’s no gate on it, because the gate was stolen, it’s certainly not for public use and my customers can’t park there.”
Purchased for just £75, Miss Low will have to find £360 if she wants to recover her car from the pound; something that she refuses to do.
Untaxed and without an MOT, plus in need of repair work, Emma has stated that she reported the car as off-road (SORN) the day after purchasing it and had arranged to get it insured.
Due to it being a bank holiday and working extra hours, Miss Low intended to tax the car on the Wednesday, four days after purchasing it.
“They are saying that the car was clamped on Sunday but I never saw any clamp on it," Miss Low revealed.
"I'm really unhappy about the fact that they can just come onto my land and take my car.
“I am supposed to be moving to another pub in a few weeks, but I’m not sure how I’ll do it without a vehicle.”
But a spokesperson for NSL, the company that clamped the vehicle, defended their actions.
"We’re confident we acted properly here. The vehicle was not SORNed – it was SORNed more than 12 hours after we clamped it – despite the fact that it is very easy to SORN a vehicle online," he explained.
“The land does not appear to be a private drive but we believe it is land to which the public has access, so it is not appropriate in any case to keep a SORNed vehicle in such a location.”
“As soon as a car has been bought it is the new owner’s responsibility and it must be taxed, or, if it is not to be driven on public roads, immediately SORNed and stored in an appropriate location.
"This is a straightforward process but was not done here.”
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