Man demands compensation from Haringey Council after his car was towed away and crushed in error

Dismayed: Albert Konadu
Albert Konadu
Hannah Al-Othman12 October 2015

A man is seeking compensation from Haringey Council after his broken-down BMW was towed away and crushed in error.

Albert Konadu claims he has been left almost £9000 out of pocket since the silver car was impounded, and later crushed - despite the fact that he was in the process of appealing the original parking ticket.

Mr Konadu's car broke down at the intersection of Queens Avenue, Fortis Green Road, and Tetherdown in Muswell Hill, in June last year.

Aware that he was blocking traffic, Mr Konadu sought the help of a pedestrian to push the vehicle to a place of safety, and left a note between the vehicle’s windscreen and wiper indicating that a mechanic would arrive the next day to deal with the broken-down car.

The car broke down in Muswell Hill
Albert Konadu

However, when he arrived the following day with a mechanic in tow, his car was nowhere to be seen, and after he called the police, he was told the car had been taken away by Haringey Council.

Mr Konadu then spent months wrangling with the local authority, who, he says, were asking him to pay a parking charge, a towing fee, and a £40 per day storage fee for each day that the car had been impounded - despite the fact that he had not committed any parking violations.

He said: "It was almost £300, I wasn't going to pay. It wasn't my fault the car had broken down."

He claims that the council were asking him to provide a valid invoice to show the vehicle had broken down and was subsequently repaired - although the car had been towed away before he ever had the chance to take it to a garage.

While he was grappling with the council to have his car released, Mr Kondadu spent £1800 on taxis to get him to and from work, before purchasing a second car, a £3,700 second-hand Vauxhall Corsa, as a more economical alternative.

He said: "I've spent nearly £9,000 because of this case. I wouldn't have spent this [on travel] within a year, because it was never in my mind to buy another car.

"There was not too much wrong with the car, I'd only had it six months.

"All of a sudden, within six months, this car had been taken away from me.

"It had valid insurance, road tax, MOT, I was paying money for the premiums, this was all costing me."

The broken-down car was towed away
BMW crushed by Haringey Council

Months later, in November last year, he claims that Haringey crushed his car, which had cost him £1500 to purchase and £800 to repair, while his appeal was ongoing.

The father-of-two, who lives in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, said: "I'm not going to rest until I get full compensation from Haringey, even if I have to go through the courts.

"They've disposed of my car and I feel I'm not in the wrong - the contravention never occured."

He added: "I'm so angry and upset at the injustice the council have displayed in this whole affair.

"I keep brooding over why I should be treated this way. I've got two lovely daughters and they're so upset about this.

"The council should have used their sense of rationality.

"They haven't justified what they've done, and they haven't apologised for anything."

A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “We have been in regular communication with Mr Konadu and have agreed to look again at his case.”

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