Council vandalises rare car

[Pebb]

Source: 4car

Here's a story to horrify classic car-lovers: Lambeth Council, in south London, has towed away and crushed a 1972 Bristol 411 - despite it being legally parked.

The car, worth an estimated £30,000 and one of just 287 made, was parked by its owner, Mendoza Stewart of Kennington, in a council-run car park in December 2004. When he returned and found it gone, he assumed it had been stolen, but police found that it has been taken to the council pound. A witness reported that when the car was lifted off the tow-truck, a mechanical grab was used, which destroyed it.

Stewart told This is London: 'It was utterly wrecked before I had a chance to retrieve it. I have not seen it since. They cannot explain why they took away what is obviously a special, rare car.'

He insisted that its tax exemption disc - indicating that it did not need a conventional tax disc - was clearly displayed.

Lambeth council has apologised to Stewart - who had owned the car since 1984, when he bought it after a long search - but as yet has not compensated him for his loss. It says that it is working to resolve the case, which is currently under litigation.

 

[Joey D]

I don't live in a big city so can someone explain to me what a mechanical grab is on a tow truck? Around here all the tow trucks are either flat beds or those old Ford duallies with a hook on the back.

 

[miata13B]

I believe this is what the tow truck in question is. The claw on the back of the truck allows the user to reverse into the car and lift it by the tires. Very effective for snatch and grabs. . .

 

[Joey D]

Hmmm alright fair enough, I don't think I've ever heard it called that before. Guess it's a regional thing.

 

[JCE]

Source: 4car

Here's a story to horrify classic car-lovers: Lambeth Council, in south London, has towed away and crushed a 1972 Bristol 411 - despite it being legally parked.

The car, worth an estimated £30,000 and one of just 287 made, was parked by its owner, Mendoza Stewart of Kennington, in a council-run car park in December 2004. When he returned and found it gone, he assumed it had been stolen, but police found that it has been taken to the council pound. A witness reported that when the car was lifted off the tow-truck, a mechanical grab was used, which destroyed it.

Stewart told This is London: 'It was utterly wrecked before I had a chance to retrieve it. I have not seen it since. They cannot explain why they took away what is obviously a special, rare car.'

He insisted that its tax exemption disc - indicating that it did not need a conventional tax disc - was clearly displayed.

Lambeth council has apologised to Stewart - who had owned the car since 1984, when he bought it after a long search - but as yet has not compensated him for his loss. It says that it is working to resolve the case, which is currently under litigation.

Wow, talk about having a really bad day. If that happend to me I would go berserk. If he was completely legal then whoever ordered this needs to get shot in the face with an elephant gun.

 

[Eric.]

I don't think they are talking about that. Whatever they used, they said it destroyed it. The tire lift thing would have to be used pretty roughly to destroy it. To me it sounds like it was picked off a flatbed by some sort of crane-style arm, likely grabbing the upper portion of the car and crushing it as it applied pressure to grip it.

At least it doesn't seem like the car was something any of us would miss. I've never heard of it and it doesn't sound like it was awfully valuable anyways.

 

[harrytuttle]

It's a Bristol. They sell somewhere around 12 a year. The decision to crush the car that quickly is like bypassing the trial in a murder case and going straight to the execution: somewhere along the line, someone forgot to do the right thing. I'd sue them for all they had, especially since the whole thing was unfounded.

 

[JCE]

At least it doesn't seem like the car was something any of us would miss. I've never heard of it and it doesn't sound like it was awfully valuable anyways.

There were only 287 of them made...isn't that valuable in some form or fashion?

 

[Jay]

I don't live in a big city so can someone explain to me what a mechanical grab is on a tow truck? Around here all the tow trucks are either flat beds or those old Ford duallies with a hook on the back.

I am quite sure they mean something like this:

That would have grabbed it straight off the back of the flat bed tow truck and crushed it. The owner must have been devastated.

 

[Turbo Lag]

Why would some council just randomly crush some car? Is it because of jealously or something??

 

[throttlehappy]

Why would some council just randomly crush some car? Is it because of jealously or something??

there bastards thats why

id vandalise there heads

 

[TheCracker]

I don't live in a big city so can someone explain to me what a mechanical grab is on a tow truck? Around here all the tow trucks are either flat beds or those old Ford duallies with a hook on the back.

It will have looked a little more like this:

 

[DQuaN]

I am quite sure they mean something like this:

That would have grabbed it straight off the back of the flat bed tow truck and crushed it. The owner must have been devastated.

Kindof, it's a claw like that on a towtruck. It destroys the car when it picks it up and puts it on the flatbed!

It will have looked a little more like this:

Yup.

 

[Dave A]

At least it doesn't seem like the car was something any of us would miss. I've never heard of it and it doesn't sound like it was awfully valuable anyways.

It was worth around $60,000.

 

[daan]

Yup.

No.

A witness reported that when the car was lifted off the tow-truck, a mechanical grab was used, which destroyed it.

Which means it was pulled up onto the back of the flatbed intact, via a tilting flatbed and a winch (probably), and was then grabbed, and destroyed, by a claw to lift it off the flatbed.

 

[DQuaN]

 

[Perfect Balance]

All of this and no one has figured out why they did it?

 

[Jay]

Kindof, it's a claw like that on a towtruck. It destroys the car when it picks it up and puts it on the flatbed!

They would have ruined a perfectly good car on the street making a mess (glass etc) all in public view? Wow is that normal in the UK? sounds odd to me.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I think it was sarcasm, although you can never tell on the internet.

 

[HiQQory]

I once saw one of those "evil claws" take one car up on to a truck, not a fflatbed, but one of those truck that carry sand, rocks etc. It was an Fiat 500 that hadnt been moving for like 2 years, it wasnt illegally parked, but it had no plates, it was a junk, it had no rear wheels/tires, so they just grabbed it wit the claw and threw it on the truck, they didnt even clean the glass from the road.

though some city workers came later and cleaned the place...'

Oh and on-topic, it made me sad that they destroyed someones clearly very precious car, with no reason

 

[MagpieRacer]

This is very simalair to what would have been used to take it away I would imagine.

 

[Jay]

That is a tow truck that tows trucks/buses.

 

[Philly]

It seems to me that the car was fairly fragile and the grip accidentally crushed the car when trying to move the car. It makes absolutely no sense and even stupid to destroy a car for being illegally parked. They have impound lots for a reason. I'll be excited to see what happens in this case.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Why destroy the car? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell it off, thus making money for the city in the process? And if it was a mistake, they'd be able to, you, know, return the damn thing.

I think council should be forced to go search for another 411 to buy the poor guy. If they cannot, pay him double its value.
Hitting them in the pocketbooks is the best way to get their attention and ensure this mistake doesn't repeat itself. Let's face it: it doesn't matter that it was a rare car. It could have been a rusting Ford Escort. Either way, someone now unjustly lacks a car. That just isn't right.

It seems to me that the car was fairly fragile and the grip accidentally crushed the car when trying to move the car. It makes absolutely no sense and even stupid to destroy a car for being illegally parked. They have impound lots for a reason. I'll be excited to see what happens in this case.

I don't think the car was fragile. Cars aren't exactly designed to be grabbed by the roof and squeezed with a steel, hydraulic claw.

 

[Jay]

It seems to me that the car was fairly fragile and the grip accidentally crushed the car when trying to move the car.

But you wouldn't use machines that 'grip' the car if you were not intending to destroy it. If it was just supposed to be towed away then you just use a tow truck and thats all.

 

[Slick6]

Ok, finally a conversation that I can relate to. Working for a towing company for the past four years I feel I can set this straight.

First of all, the Europeans have very different towing techniques compared to ours.

I'm going to guess that something like this was used. The lift basically cradles all four wheels and lifts the car. If done right it can be safe and damage free. I have however seen pictures of similar trucks just running straps through the windows basically putting all of the stress on the roof and stressing the metal. This is the absolute worst way to tow a car.

More on that type of towing here:
http://www.towman.com/2/bestofat0026.html


In the US, we have three basic types of towing
1. Wheel-lifting
2. Slinging
3. Flatbedding

Wheel-lifting involves a truck similar to what miata13B posted. The wheel is cradled and lifted by the drive wheels.

Slinging was the norm before the wheel-lift was invented. Here the sling part is pulled up tight to the bumper and chain is hooked to it and the car is lifted. This is not common practice for newer cars nowadays with the plastic bumpers, but when nearly everything had "bumpers", it worked fine.

Flatbedding is fairly simple, and does not involve a crane. The bed simply tilts up and the car is pulled onto the bed and chained down. Ramps may be needed for lowered cars to get a smaller angle. These are generally used for cars/trucks that are 4WD and/or are not wheel-liftable or slingable.

If an AWD or 4WD car needs to be slung or wheel-lifted then dollies can be used as so. Another alternative is removing the driveshafts of the vehicles.

 

[Sting]

I have a problem with this......

It says that it is working to resolve the case,.

SO GIVE THE GUY HIS MONEY, plus extra for inconvienience and worry caused.

 

[Dave A]

The car wasn't destroyed when it was being towed, it was destroyed when it was lifted off the tow tuck. They used a grab to lift the car off the tow truck and it was that, that did the damage.

 

[Jim Prower]

Wow.

This is Government at it's worst.

 

[TheCracker]

Wow.

This is Government at it's worst.

No, it's Local Council at it's worst. Local Councils are like a Monty Python version of Government.