Ah what a morning.. Found my car has been clamped in the Car park this morning.
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/clamped.jpg)
Extremely annoyed at the reason why, i'm over the line of a 'no parking space' by about 1 inch, which was only because of the skewness of the car parked next to me, necessatating me to park in the same vane to avoid my car getting damaged. No they don't care about that. My car is restricting access. Personally I think this is BS. So i said so to the parking officer, at which point he was ready to contact the police for my transgressions. So anyways I then said if access is so important then why haven't you fined me, and left the car unclamped? Imagine if I was away for 2 weeks...how would you move it then if it was clamped? At this point I was pretty annoyed so I said it can sit there, then we'll see about your access.
The thing which annoys me is that it was parked there for a few hours..they could have thought well he's never parked there before, we'll give him a bit of leeway.
Anyway, just to really annoy the people who clamped me I've put this sign in the back window.
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/notice.jpg)
I know i'm technically in the wrong..by one inch I hasten to add, but would this piss you guys off as well?
Ive been clamped before.. bunch of cowboys. I parked in a carpark and walked over the road to a garage to buy a part, when i came back they had clamped me (they were watching people). they had just installed signs that youdidnt really notice saying that if you were not shopping at the given shop you would be clamped.
They wanted to charge me £85 to release it - now i had a credit card but not that kind of cash on me, they said the office was closed so it would have to be cash... they then told me i could get cashback from the shop (where you had to be a customer to park) so i went it, got some chewing gum and a receipt, then went out to my car and kicked up a fuss as they had clamped me and i was a paying customer... got the manager and the clamp was removed. A nice finger was given to them as i left with a smirk on my face! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Love the note BTW!
yes would definately annoy me big time.
why do people have to annoy other human beings this way is beyond me.
abit of common sense wouldnt go a miss
PMSL, that note is funny!
Hope they've not damaged your wheels!
From Free Lawyer
Wheel clamping on private land
A person who wheel-clamps a car parked without permission on his land could be said to be trying to use a remedy of the civil law by detaining the property of the trespasser, until compensation is paid. In Scotland, however, the courts have said they consider this to amount to extortion and theft. The English courts have said that if there is a clear notice that parking without permission will result in clamping, then (provided you saw the sign) to go on and park anyway is to consent to being clamped. What this means is that even if the act of clamping a car is wrong under the civil law (because it wrongfully interferes with and detains your property), the person parking has, by his actions, agreed that the clamper can do so. This implied consent to clamping is not a blank cheque for the land-owner to do what he wants. It is on the basis that: - there was a clear and prominent notice
- the release fee is reasonable,
- the vehicle will be unclamped without delay upon payment, and
- there is a means to communicate with the clamper in order to make payment
[/i]
Your best bet is the signs. Did your route to the parking space pass a clear sign, which you could not fail to notice. One sign in a car park does not mean that they can just clamp you, you must be able to acknowledge that sign, before you park.
Also, from this year, private wheel clampers have to be licenced. No licence means that they are working illegally and can face 5 years in prison. Check to see if your friendly clamper has a licence.
It may also be worth reading through this guide
m http://www.britishparking.co.uk/pages/m ... egal06.htm (http://www.britishparking.co.uk/pages/members/legal06.htm) m
Quote from: "Peter Laborne"Your best bet is the signs. Did your route to the parking space pass a clear sign, which you could not fail to notice. One sign in a car park does not mean that they can just clamp you, you must be able to acknowledge that sign, before you park.
Also, from this year, private wheel clampers have to be licenced. No licence means that they are working illegally and can face 5 years in prison. Check to see if your friendly clamper has a licence.
Great Post Peter! To be fair there is a sign there which says illegally parked cars will be clamped. If my 1 inch counts as illegal then fair enough! I'll definitely ask about the licenses though..
Has anyone got the no of that guy that goes round and takes pleasure from cutting them off with a circular saw? Infact I read somwhere you can remove them by deflating your tyre...and as long as you give them back in perfect condition, they can't do anything. I'd love to see there faces when i handed it back!
Vultures s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Quote from: "krisclarkuk"They wanted to charge me £85 to release it - now i had a credit card but not that kind of cash on me, they said the office was closed so it would have to be cash...
That sounds rather dodgy...probably would have gone in their back pocket! I think sometimes they just expect to people to hand over their money.
Quote from: "MRMike"To be fair there is a sign there which says illegally parked cars will be clamped.
The thing is, were you able to see the sign before you parked? Is the wording clear (eg that if you block access (and the area for access is clearly marked) then you will be clamped).
As for the bloke that removes clamps, he only works in London.
Quote from: "Peter Laborne"Quote from: "MRMike"To be fair there is a sign there which says illegally parked cars will be clamped.
The thing is, were you able to see the sign before you parked? Is the wording clear (eg that if you block access (and the area for access is clearly marked) then you will be clamped).
As for the bloke that removes clamps, he only works in London.
Well there are signs which say 'permit holders only' nothing about clamping...then there is one sign which states that you will be clamped, which is out of sight.
s:lol: :lol: s:lol: I'm liking the sounds of this...
By the way Phil there doesn't appear to be any damage..though they have left glue all over the window where they attached the notice. When they get round to taking it off i'll make sure they're carefull
Quote from: "MRMike"Well there are signs which say 'permit holders only' nothing about clamping...then there is one sign which states that you will be clamped, which is out of sight.
Bingo. As you've got your camera on you, take loads of photos. A permit holders sign give no rights to clamping, unless it is like the following:
(http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icteesside/feb2004/0/2/0006D134-FEA1-103D-ADE680BFB6FA0000.jpg)
Signs stating that you will be clamped must be clearly visable. If they are not, they cannot clamp you.
Plan:
Talk to the person who clamped you. Ask him if you can see his clampers licence (it's the individual clampers who must have the licence, not the agency they work for). If he asks why, inform him that he has illegally clamped your vehicle and you are now going to take this matter through the courts unless he removes the clamp immediately (you have plenty of information in this tread to beef it out). Also add that, if he is not a licenced clamper, he faces a 5 year prison sentance.
That should be enough to persuade him to remove it right away. As well as the fact that if you take it through the courts then you will seek to reclaim any costs through not being able to drive your vehicle and also any costs if there is any damage to your vehicle whist the clamp is upon it.
Without being able to see any photos, IMHO you have a great case here.
The major factor is that you must be able to clearly see a notice that your vehicle will be clamped when you park your car. You couldn't, pure and simple.
Go get em s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Now were talking! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: I will bet my bottom dollar he doesn't have a license..in which case I will love to see him squirm. I would dearly love to have my CCTV camera that you recommended just so I could record the whole thing...magic.
Anyways I'll go and revise what i'm going to say so that I dont have to take a load of papers with me!
Cheers!
Quote from: "Peter Laborne"From Free Lawyer
Wheel clamping on private land
A person who wheel-clamps a car parked without permission on his land could be said to be trying to use a remedy of the civil law by detaining the property of the trespasser, until compensation is paid. In Scotland, however, the courts have said they consider this to amount to extortion and theft. The English courts have said that if there is a clear notice that parking without permission will result in clamping, then (provided you saw the sign) to go on and park anyway is to consent to being clamped. What this means is that even if the act of clamping a car is wrong under the civil law (because it wrongfully interferes with and detains your property), the person parking has, by his actions, agreed that the clamper can do so. This implied consent to clamping is not a blank cheque for the land-owner to do what he wants. It is on the basis that: - there was a clear and prominent notice
- the release fee is reasonable,
- the vehicle will be unclamped without delay upon payment, and
- there is a means to communicate with the clamper in order to make payment
[/i]
Your best bet is the signs. Did your route to the parking space pass a clear sign, which you could not fail to notice. One sign in a car park does not mean that they can just clamp you, you must be able to acknowledge that sign, before you park.
Also, from this year, private wheel clampers have to be licenced. No licence means that they are working illegally and can face 5 years in prison. Check to see if your friendly clamper has a licence.
It may also be worth reading through this guide
m http://www.britishparking.co.uk/pages/m ... egal06.htm (http://www.britishparking.co.uk/pages/members/legal06.htm) m
I heard that was as a result of a lawyer being clamped once in Edinburgh... He won his case and literally, from one day to the next, all the clamping companies went bust! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: (So, unfortunately I could not claim all the money that had been
stolen(!) from me all these years in Scotland!) s:evil: :evil: s:evil:
Obviously you got wheel clamped because that sad guy's sick with envy over your smart Mister 2.
Hope the plan works out!!
i also suspect that the line itself is not aloud to be classed as illegal as officially the boundary is in the centre of this line i.e your tyre is an inch over the line but 2 inches left of the line.
i have also heard that you are aloud some percentage error in parking due to situations like yours where you have been forced over slightly.
although i have no evidence to back either of these up.
good luck any way
try speaking to the clamper's boss or the car park owner (who pays there wages)
That looks like the type that you can escape from if you let your tyre down..... s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
Quote from: "MRMike"I would dearly love to have my CCTV camera that you recommended just so I could record the whole thing...magic.
Watch Mike meet the wheelclaper live on MR2 ROC. Brought to you by:
(http://www.peter-laborne.co.uk/fistcamlogo.gif)
MRMike - good luck man. Take loads of pictures.
krisclarkuk - that is a great story - shame you couldn't take their picture as you drove off!
Well the clamp is now off. Without me paying a penny! Absolutely fantastic. Went to the parking officer and said could I see his license.."Don't need one son on private ground" "Well the Law seems to disagree..you know you could face 5 years in Jail" "Don't talk rubbish sonny" So I showed him the print out..he had a look himself..and then dutifully removed it..for nothing. Though it did piss him off something rotten, and he's warned me that if he ever sees it again he's going to put a clamp no each wheel. Nice! And apparently i'm a cocky shit. s:lol: :lol: s:lol: The last resort of a beaten man! NEver felt so chuffed!
This was better than the Chewbacca maneuvre. (A south park thing where Johnny Cockran brings out Chewbacca as a defense to his cases "chewbacca is a wokie....he lives on Endoor...that does not make sense..if chewbacca lives on Endoor you must aquit!" And it always works!)
Anyways Peter I think I owe you a beer that little diamond of a tip!
Thanks again!
Quote from: "MRMike"....rotten, and he's warned me that if he ever sees it again he's going to put a clamp no each wheel. Nice!
Sounds like a threat.
You should park there again and next time call the police and tell them that you have been illegally clamped by an unlicenced "person". s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Quote from: "victor"Quote from: "MRMike"....rotten, and he's warned me that if he ever sees it again he's going to put a clamp no each wheel. Nice!
Sounds like a threat.
You should park there again and next time call the police and tell them that you have been illegally clamped by an unlicenced "person". s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Haha ! I should put a note on saying " Clamp at own risk" I've read quite a lot of Michael Foucaults work.. he was interesting because he commented that power was relational and that it was impossible to engender power without knowledge. How true that statement is..If i hadn't known about the license thing, then I would be £20 poorer. Just from that little bit of knowledge I had power..amazing. I would implore anyone to challenge these things in the future. Next time I get a speeding fine I will definitely challenge it. ( Not thats imminent or anything! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: )
TBO though I don't think clamping will be a problem in the future...by the time its lowered I think it will be pretty impossible to get a clamp on it! At least that was the case with my old 206!
Anyone been clamped with lowered suspension??
Quote from: "MRMike"Just from that little bit of knowledge I had power..amazing. I would implore anyone to challenge these things in the future.
What I would do is quickly drop your local rag a bell or email telling them what happened. I'm sure they would love a story like this. And loads more people would know how to be unclamped for nothing.
And it would put the little $h!t who clamped you out of business (unless he gets a licence).
You could get a great photo of you and your 2!!!
Quote from: "Peter Laborne"You could get a great photo of you and your 2!!!
and you could plug the owners club while your at it hehe
Great news!
Should print out that lawyer statement and keep it in the car.
When the clamper said he would clamp each wheel I would have said well that will be 20 years in jail then! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
25 if he gets the spare too
Well done MRMike glad to see you put the sh*thead in his place, made good reading.
Quote from: "MRMike"Anyways Peter I think I owe you a beer that little diamond of a tip!
Thanks again!
Glad I could help s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
As much as I would love to further rub copious amounts of salt into the wound..I'm going to call it a day with them, because if they wanted to they really could make my life hell.
So a dignified victorious retreat for me. Once again thanks to all those who posted!
May the Law be with you!! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: