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Well, to cut a long story short, whilst nipping into GW yesterday to collect my copy of Space Hulk, a pair of arseholes went and wheel clamped my Taxi, and demanded a colossal £230 to remove it (£140 for the actual removal, £90 PER DAY my car was parked there).

Now at first, I thought 'it's a fair cop'. I had parked somewhere I probably shouldn't have (Private Road behind GW) and totally and utterly failed to notice their Van parked in the bay opposite. But as I waited for the Office to send someone to bail me out, things started to smell funny, in a metaphorical sense. First of all, I noticed a small sign, directly above my Taxi, stating that from the wall of the adjoining Car Park, to the metal studs in the Road (the area I had parked in), is Private Property, and you require council permission to walk, drive or park there. Granted this is permission I did not have, but seeing as the permission comes from the Council, and not a private parking enforcement company, my cars location was very strictly out of their jurisdiction. I pointed this out to them, as well as the fact their signs were only on the opposite side of the road. They agreed that the sign was indeed contradictory, but proceeded to tell me in not so many words to suck their balls, the clamp stays on.

Then Sayed, one of our other Drivers in the town comes along. Sayed happens to be the tenant in one of the flats paying for the Clamping firm to enforce the parking on their private street. He tells the clampers that they are only supposed to be clamping the one side (where their signs are). They get very...in his face, very quickly, and even threaten to clamp him (for what I don't know). By this time I'm seriously starting to smell a Rat, and two chancers out to make as much cash as they can on the side of their official duties. So I pop to the Council and get a representative from their Parking Enforcement, who states the road is indeed Private, and thus out of Council Jurisdiction, yet the sign does give me reasonable grounds to have parked their without fear of clamping. The guys continue to have none of it, claiming they have seen plans from the Land Registry which show their jurisdiction. The Council guy then says he was unaware of the Private Firm having been hired at all.

And so it goes on...longer and longer (I was there for a total of 5 mind numbing, deeply frustrating hours).Eventually the Office send someone over, the fee is paid, and the clamp removed. In the intervening time, believing that even if I had parked within their jurisdiction, the pre-existing council sign is contradictory enough to give me 'benefit of the doubt' and thus a lesson learnt and clamp removed for free, I proceeded to take photos of the area, showing the respective sides of the street, and where the signs are, photos of the council sign and their sign, my car with clamp on, clearly parked within the aforementioned metal studs. I got one of their Van, but they refused to let me take their photo's (fair enough I suppose, and within their rights) and all other stuff I felt relevant to my case.

After the bill is paid, we are given our receipt, and a badly laser printed document about how to appeal. Except, the Appeal Form says I need a reference for the offence. Which we did not have. I caught up with the Clampers before pootling off, and demanded the Offence Code. To which he gave me.... TW/CP/090904/1. Now, the six digit number is just that days date monkied with, the TW/CP would be Tunbridge Wells Car Park....could this be anymore of a number pulled out his arse?

So I'm going to have them. I have their badge numbers, and I have the rest of my evidence. Not only will the company be refunding me my £230 fine, but I will be invoicing them for 5 hours of lost earnings, at a cost of £50 an hour, plus others for the stress and upset caused by their arsehole employees. From everyone I spoke to (including the Police) I should walk the appeal due to the sign. And Sayed is going to dig out his copy of the agreement, which will hopefully prove he was right in that they only have jurisdiction for the one side, namely the side I had not parked on.

I fething hate Clampers me.

There been a lot of this gak happening lately, heard it on the radio.

You could find out where they live, put on a hockey mask, break in and beat the living gak outa them. Then steal the money you need from there house and pay the fine with it.

NAh, I'll let the Bossman do that. He's a former pro-Boxer, and now commentates on UFC or something....

Ironically, the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 was on when I parked, essentially saying that Private Parking Firms do not issue Fines, they issue Invoices, and being that, you can utterly refuse to pay it, forcing them the expense of taking you to court, which they rarely do... Same with the Clamping I guess. Plus their signs do not have their Terms And Conditions on them, which they should.

Oh, and apparently, you have to pay them onsite, no central number to call to do this. And CC have to be Chip And Pin in person...suspicious much? Never known a company to do that myself.

Keep a saw in your trunk.

Keep a chainsaw in your taxi.

"No, no Officer, honest, only for wheel clampers."

sA

Well well well. Locks-a-mercy.

Just checked the rules for clamping on the Interwebs (I need to get me an iPhoone or something for remote Web Access). The sods should have released me as soon as I agreed to pay the fine, NOT when I have paid the fine. Suspicious much? His SIA License is indeed valid, but they broke numerous rules. I was right about the little Council Sign. Being contradictory is enough, as it prevents the area being clearly signed as under their complete authority, so they had no right to clamp me. HAhahahahaha! In their faces! Now to wait until morning and inform the Bossman.

On the subject of self removal, sadly if you damage the clamp they can do you for Criminal Damage. However, if I was to cut my way through the Padlock, and then replace it, they cannot touch me. TIme to keep a hefty padlock in the Car and a Hacksaw methinks.

rip out the domesticated Genestealer, and let it nomnom their brais for a while, or you could just go Khorne on them!

Doc, just do what a few of us on camp have done
The families quarters are outside the actual base but are still MOD property, we get wheel clampers here all the time, allthough they only ever clamp a vehicle once lol.
Just a quick phone call to the gate and they send someone down to cut the clamp for us if the clamper has refused to remove it.

This is the thing. If I get someone else to cut the clamp off, they cannot touch me. Unless they actually witness the clamp being removed, as long as I have a solid alibi, they can't prove a thing and have to let me go.

Also, should I remove the clamp myself, without damaging it (it's an involved job, but ultimately doable) there is precisely NOTHING they can do about it.

But hey, looks like my case might be pretty strong, if not completely watertight (bless you little White Sign, bless you!) so I should be having them over a barrel.

So. Much. English. Slang.

But yes, getting booted (I assume that clamp = boot) sucks.

This is just another raeson why the UK should allow their citizens to carry handguns. I would have kicked both their arses none the less.

G

Sadly that solves nothing, unless the problem was my lack of criminal record, which is a state I most definitely do not consider to be a problem at present!

Better to drag their arses through the courts, thus risking their badges and jobs. I reckon they will capitulate fairly quickly in face of that.

Green Blow Fly wrote:This is just another raeson why the UK should allow their citizens to carry handguns. I would have kicked both their arses none the less.

G

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Sadly that solves nothing, unless the problem was my lack of criminal record, which is a state I most definitely do not consider to be a problem at present!

Better to drag their arses through the courts, thus risking their badges and jobs. I reckon they will capitulate fairly quickly in face of that.

Have to agree with MDG here, this situation in no way required the use of violence or firearms. Way to promote the sterotype!

Just goes to show that clampers in this coubtry should be regulated, several years ago I worked for my local council as a recycling loader, while not clamped (we were in a lorry so probaly no clamp big enough) we were parked on double yellow lines in the hih street with hazard lights and beacons on, when we cam back to load the lorry we discovered that we had a parking ticket!! given to us by a council parking enforcment agent!! truly ironic thing is the building we were parked outside was the council office. Just another example of a "little hitler" throwing his weight around.

Clampers: The Gwar! of Real Life

Good luck on your case, MDG.

Yes indeed, a RAI vs FIST argument... in who's favor?

These companies suck, and more often than not, the only thing they have against you is your inability to "waste" time forcing them to shove it up their royally greedy... exhaust pipes. I worked at a store in a mini-mall for a while, and there was a "boot/clamp company" who "ran" the large parking area. On SEVERAL occasions people would buy something in one of the stores then put their stuff in the car and walk across the street to another store; after which they would be clamped within 5 minutes and they would pretend that their was nothing that could be done about it besides signing some form to pay them.

This situation even happened to two of our managers on separate occasions, and the "clamp company" was almost let go because they were obviously skimming cash off of people when they got the chance to. Totally backwards business IMHO, they shouldn't even to be able to lock you at all. Why not just have a security camera, and/or a security guard who takes the information and works with the city to charge you; on top of this it would provide the city with a bit of extra income, which pretty much any of these companies can easily part with. They work in a very demeaning way, much much worse than any city paid meter-maid I have ever encountered; most of whom are actually quite level headed... and packing mace .

At least you know for certain that you own the most expensive box of Space Hulk ever. Good luck with your mission!

You should have knocked the bastards flat.

It has always bugged me that other citizens are given the right to essentially high-jack your personal belongings. Even local governments hardly ever boot or clamp your vehicles...

http://www.autoinfozone.com/clamp2.html

It werent fair and I am hoping MDG makes them play through the nose. I call shennigans on this type of behaviour. Hopefully Mad Doc will help to curve the type behaviour. It is really very annoying to say the least. It just steams me up thinking bout it.

G

JEB_Stuart wrote:It has always bugged me that other citizens are given the right to essentially high-jack your personal belongings. Even local governments hardly ever boot or clamp your vehicles...

It is illegal in Scotland. Yet another case where Scottish law is better than the English law on the same issue.

Private clampers are the spawn of Satan and the sooner these 'people' are clamped down (pun very much intended) on the better.

Hope you win MDG, be sure to keep us updated.

I got clamped once. Came back with a mate and cut the padlock (was just some sorta triangle device with chains round one of my wheels). Got told I'd be taken to court. Three years later, still waiting.

Unfortunately in your case, you have already paid them. So the ball is in their park, not yours. Good luck though.

You should have called this guy - he is in Kent:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3112670.stm

And a quick update.

Work dealt with the whole thing. First appeal was of course denied. They claimed they had every right to Clamp me.

Second appeal included a letter from myself, copies of the photo's taken, and a threat to see them in Court. Again, they refused. Of course they did.

So the Court date was set, and they declined to contest. Since they couldn't even bother to show up, the Court ruled in my favour. They have a few more days to cough up the money (£230 refund, £100 for Work's time wasted, £50 for my time wasted, plus of course costs). If they don't, then the Boss is sending round Bailiffs.


BACK OF THE NET!

Now, to ring up my local paper to get word out you can win the appeal if you park there and take photos!

Result!

There's lots of other nasty things you can do to them if they fail to pay up.

1. Issue a summons to bring a director of the company to court to answer relevant questions, such as what are the company's bank account details.
2. Garnishee order.
3. Issue a summons to have the company closed as trading insolvently.

YES ! Great news.

..my god.. the system actually works !

It does if you have pics of the parking.

Which the Clamping Company should be able to supply, seeing as they have to take one of your Car clamped....