Got Clamped today

Saruman

My ticket expired at 4:10 and i turned the corner at 4:28 to go to car and the clamper had just done his job and was going back to his van. Since it was done and called in nothing i could do. I was not happy as i had just been, before i found myself clamped, very happy at getting off work early and had a good day. That was shattered.

So i think fine ill call the number, pay by credit card and since he is here i can go on my way.. nope my credit card did not work. Over credit limit i later found out. I went all the way to Oconnel street (from eccles place) and found an ATM to get €80 out but found out i can only pay by cash at east wall road???? Not to the clampers.. So called my mother and got her lazer details..

In the end i was late home and €80 out of pocket.. Day was great till then..
Oh while i was waiting a friendly garda walked by and he was like "ah they are unbelievable!" obviously he sympathised with me.. probably been clamped himself.

You know what i would LOVE to do.. Get a load of clamps go to wherever they park their clamp mobiles and clamp them all.. then call the news and give them the story of the clampers who got clamped!!

l3rian

id love to modify the car to make it clamper proof

Red Alert

What could you do? Unless you modified the wheels to give a nice million-volt shock to the clamper!

Thorbar

Just buy yourself a clamp and stick it on your car everytime you park.

Tommy Vercetti

I'd love to modify a clampers face with a crowbar

rabbitinlights

A mate took a clamper company to court to pay for damage done to his car, it was a modded car and was very low etc, and while forcing the clamp around the wheel he cracked the entire front spoiler thing, but the clamper didnt stop, when he realised he couldnt do the front wheel he stuck it on the back. My mate went nuts and had to get CCTV to prove the guy did it because he denied it all.

They paid him and got it fitted for him and everything.

Pricks.


Sean


Ps, Mini's are ment to be impossible to clamp.

jabberwock

LOL!!!

you could modify the front wing to have a cover over the wheel.
Be like a big pimple on the front wheels..

be a bitch though if you got a flat!!!

Tommy Vercetti

seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools. I like the clamp-the-clampers idea - anyone know what they could do about it from a legal point of view?

Trebor

Originally posted by Tommy Vercetti
seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools.

best way to do this would be if you see someones ticket is about to run out be a pal and get another one for them

or start a company that sells parking tickets that you pay a monthly fee for and thus ticket would never expire might need council approval for this

Pacifico

Originally posted by Trebor
best way to do this would be if you see someones ticket is about to run out be a pal and get another one for them

Or pay people to do it*......



* This might not work

Chinafoot

ok im gonna say this knowing that im gonna get jumped on but.................you were almost 20mins over the ticket. sorry but i have no sympathy.

John R

I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

Trebor

Originally posted by John R
I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

Lump

As some one else said, buy a clamp and stick it on everytime you park up.


John

acid

Carry an oxy-acetylene torch, or an angle grinder in your boot. Problem solved.

PowerHouseDan

all you have to do (first make sure you have a pumped up spare tyre and just let down the air on the clamped one and hey its off,change the lis plates when your parked aswell

RicardoSmith

Did you all see that story in the papers about the father with the sick kids who rushes out of the dr on his way to the hospital and his car is clamped. The B***ard wouldn't free the car and a passing guard paid the fine to free the car.

Oriel

Heh, just leave the car in Tallaght - the clamper will have nothing to attach the clamp to

Saruman

Originally posted by peachypants
ok im gonna say this knowing that im gonna get jumped on but.................you were almost 20mins over the ticket. sorry but i have no sympathy.

Actually as far as i was aware you get 20 mins grace!! Oh and i should also add that on the ticket it said the time was 4:32 which was about 4 or 5 mins ahead of time, it was not even that time when i looked at the ticket!! I was standing right there at the clamper as he was writing the ticket out for me. So time does not mean much to them.. i could have been 2 mins late.. within whatever grace period it is (clamper said about 10 mins) but if i did not arrive back in time i would be clamped and the time on the ticked would NOT be correct.

Anyway the problem with clamping yor own car is simple, they can tow it and thats even worse as you also have to pay the tow fee and go off and find your car.
they have way too much authority. I read that thing in the papers too and the garda does not have authority over them even it seems!!

No they are evil! The clamper i talked to was actually a nice enough guy, said he was sorry but nothing he could do. he was African-Irish if you want to use that term. His irish counterpart seemed a bit like an ass though when he arrived.

Oh and peachypants.. do you drive? If you get clamped remember what you just said.

John R

Originally posted by Trebor
don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

A bill for what? it isn't a notice of a court summons like a parking ticket, they charge a "removal fee" If you remove it yourself they can only try to get you for damaging the clamp.


Aren't there rules about where they can tow a car from? AFAIK if you are parked in a no-parking zone you can get towed but if you park in a proper parking area they can only clamp.

Guy:Incognito

how bout not parking illegally or not staying longer than you paid for, surely thats the best way to beat the clampers, why dont you hate the guards in the same way, after all they stop you breaking laws aswell.

"about 10 minutes grace" means F**k all, that means that the clamper himself might give you a couple of minutes over to see if you show up, it doesnt mean there is an official grace period, and if there is im sure its to cover any discrepincies (sp/) in timeing between the actual time and the clampers/ your watch.

Trebor

Originally posted by John R
A bill for what? it isn't a notice of a court summons like a parking ticket, they charge a "removal fee" If you remove it yourself they can only try to get you for damaging the clamp.

sorry am not a driver i assumed that it was similar to the parking ticket thing

i have no sympathy for drivers though, they take up too much of the road

John R

Originally posted by Trebor
sorry am not a driver i assumed that it was similar to the parking ticket thing

i have no sympathy for drivers though, they take up too much of the road

I kind of agree with you, I rarely drive into the city now, I spend most of the time in the bus cursing all the selfish motorists cluttering up the streets and making me late.

RicardoSmith

I love not to need a car to get to work or even just to get around the city. But I have a choice do I take the car and take 40mins to get to work. Or do I get the bus and take 1.30-2hrs doing the same journey?

Mighty_Mouse

Galway County Council have taken action against the clampers who wouldnt release the clamp to allow a father parked outside a doctors surgery with a child suspected of meningitis to go to the hospital. They had actually clamped the doctors car to even though he had a "doctor on call" sign and had rushed there in an emergency!!! The guards were called and they still wouldnt remove the clamp so the guard himself had to pay the fine so they could rush the child to the hospital!!http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004/05/27/news/46848.html

I know a friend who pissed on the clamp before calling them!!

eth0_

Originally posted by Tommy Vercetti
seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools. I like the clamp-the-clampers idea - anyone know what they could do about it from a legal point of view?

duh, they're clampers, they'd be able to remove the clamp fairly quickly :OP
I think you need a licence to operate as a clamper too, so you'd be breaking the law :P


If you walk up the grand canal in front of the Esat building, you'll almost always see really flash cars clamped there. I don't know if the clampers in that area have a 'flash b*stard' vendetta, or the flash b*stards think they can park where the hell they like.

As for the guy who was clamped, you were 20 mins over your time! What would the point be in having a grace period, you know what time your parking expires, why not get back to your car in time?

Sleipnir

Originally posted by Trebor
don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

Naw, buy 4 clamps!
Then laugh into your sleeves as they walk around your car scratching their heads.


course, they could have you towed but it takes ages for them to arrive

Saruman

Originally posted by eth0_
duh, they're clampers, they'd be able to remove the clamp fairly quickly :OP
I think you need a licence to operate as a clamper too, so you'd be breaking the law :P

As for the guy who was clamped, you were 20 mins over your time! What would the point be in having a grace period, you know what time your parking expires, why not get back to your car in time?

Firstly!! Clamps are held on by locks and without key they would need to break the locks. Not easy, they would need one of them but cutter things. And its not so they cant get their vehicles.. its just payback and wie would see how they like it.

And for the grace period? Why? think about it. Just use some intelligence and think about it.. Apart from the obvious.. you get held up etc.. The most obvious i can think of is i get to machine ON TIME find i dont have any change so i have to go off and get some! i come back and im clamped? Would this piss you off??? I know it would me and the clamper would not listen to reason. How about an unlikely but possible reason like you are held up because of a bomb scare or something, you get back ready to go home and you are clamped. how about your wallet and phone is stolen.. you loose your ticket forget what time exactly but think its about 3:30, you find it was 3:20, you arive at 3:25 and you are clamped because there is NO grace period.. you have no wallet or phone so NO way to contact anyone short of someone letting you use a phone for free. need i go on?

by the way other councils DO have grace periods.. google it!! some say 10 mins others 15 mins.

Oh i should have thought about that pissing on the clamp idea... Damn if it ever happens again i will!!

ixoy

This sounds like a job for Angle Grinder Man!

His site is here - the guy goes around and frees clamped cars. He also provides information on how to free your own car and has a hotline. Unfoturnately he hasn't extended his vigilante ways here yet...

eth0_

Originally posted by Saruman
Firstly!! Clamps are held on by locks and without key they would need to break the locks. Not easy, they would need one of them but cutter things. And its not so they cant get their vehicles.. its just payback and wie would see how they like it.

Oh I know, but i'm sure they carry cutter things in case they have probs with the lock

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Thorbar
Just buy yourself a clamp and stick it on your car everytime you park.

Originally posted by John R
I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

both of these have already been done,

the one about clamping your own car, some guy in london did it. he bought his own clamp and clamped his own car in the same spot everyday for 10 years or something. was in the sun a few years back. they copped on one day and afair he was charged with impersonating a clamper or something equally rediculous. could be that you need a licence to clamp,

as for removing the clamp again it was in teh sun a year or 2 ago. a guy did it by driving forward slightly so the clamp was at an angle. then jacking up his car, and deflating the spare and taking it and clamp off all in one go. then put on his spare and drove off. he still had his reg taken and got his fine. think they tried to sue him for stealing the clamp too as he hadent returned it. dont know how that worked out.