Clamped at work

[InsertHandle]

Just got clamped at work

It's not the ppl i work for that do the clamping but the landlord agency

It's €50 to release but I really don't want to pay out of principle

Any ideas for beating the clamp? I'm in worktil 8 tonight and if anyone has an anglegrinder i would appreciate a lend of it

The reason i parked where i did was that there is a serious shortage of parking spots .. and no i wasn't blocking emergency access or in a disabled spot

markpb

Why did they clamp you? Were you in a common or reserved area?

C_Breeze

Bah , i got clamped for €90 at Blanch SC .
yknow the yelow car park , in the unused taxi rank -there was about 30 cars parked there , but my front left tyre was on those yellow boxy things thats at the begginin of the rank - BUT ITS AN UNused taxi rank with cars parked and I got clamped .

I demanded that he clamp the other 30 cars aswell or let me off. HE didnt so ive never sworn so much or shouted so loudly at a person in my life before!!

so just pay up and let loose , see it as a form of stress releif

Hagar

Lump hammer and a cold chisel should do the job. If they come along while you're doing it... well you have a lump hammer and a cold chisel...

SouperComputer

Hagar wrote:

Lump hammer and a cold chisel should do the job. If they come along while you're doing it... well you have a lump hammer and a cold chisel...

I like it!

jayok

If you parked in an area that you weren't supposed to park in what did you expect? Pfff...

In our office block we (the company) bought car parking space at €45,000 each (city centre job). These weren't bought for anyone else only the Directors. Trust me if you parked in these I'd have no problem in getting you clamped or even better towed.

Remove this if you wish, if there's signs up warning you and you forcefully remove it prepare to be charge with criminal damage.

Hagar

It would be interesting to find out what the legal standing of those signs would be. Anybody can put up a sign but it does not necessarily give them legal rights. "No refunds under any circumstances" for instance. You may have been wrong to park there but what gives them the right to deprive you of your property? Two wrongs never made a right. I personally would remove the clamp and take my chance in front of a judge rather than pay these gougers a penny.

Silverfish

And why immobilise a car in a place it supposedly shouldn't be? They're just ensuring its there for longer than it would have been.

jayok

Silverfish wrote:

And why immobilise a car in a place it supposedly shouldn't be? They're just ensuring its there for longer than it would have been.

Hence my preference for towing. However, by clamping it means that the offender is no longer able to move the car when he/she feels like it. They must wait to be un-clamped and the whole inconvienence of this.

[InsertHandle]

It's not a county council or anything
and it's not an executive space.
we have a few hundred spaces at work but it's not nearly enough for the amount of ppl with cars(i could go on a rant about planning in dublin and the LA like sprawl it's turning into but i won't)
There is an overflow carpark which is also full and in fact is smaller now that there's construction of some kind going on

so i found a spot where i'm not blocking traffic and where nobody is blocked from getting out. I've parked there before when the carparks were full and nothing happened.

I'm on a late shift so i went out on MY 30 min luch break to move into a real parking spot(i'm on lunch when other ppl are going home ) and I find the landlord that look after the carparks for my multinational employer have clamped me!

[InsertHandle]

I was just out to have another look at it ... it's one of those lightweight ones so me has a brute force kinda idea

2 hrs of work left til the showdown

Hagar

jayok wrote:

Hence my preference for towing.

If someone towed my car who was not a duly appointed State representative I would report it stolen, give it's current whereabouts and involve the Gardai.

testicle

Hence it is illegal for private car park owners to tow...

Tipsy Mac

This is private clamping which is unlicensed in Ireland, you should be grand smashing the clamp to pieces with your bare hands or else call this fella...

lomb

no need for angle grinder, jack car up, let air out of tire, wiggle clamp off, use wheel brace to help u. i know a guy who did this, worked grand, enlist someone elses help if u can.

neacy69

it sounds like the ****ty little ones that they out on in college and if it is then you can pull the useless ****ers off just pull back towards the underside of the car and then forwards again....and off she pops thats what we done anyhow:D

stevenmu

Bear in mind that the incident could be reported to your employers if you rip it off.

[InsertHandle]

let them report it

u wouldn't see chuck norris stand for this kind of extorsion

It's fight the man time :mad:

Tipsy Mac

[InsertHandle] wrote:

let them report it

u wouldn't see chuck norris stand for this kind of extorsion

It's fight the man time :mad:

Good luck with it man, it's now after 8 and time for the showdown.:cool:

[InsertHandle]

ok here's how it went down ...

The clamp came off VERY easily without any damage to the clamp or, more importantly, to my car

hopped in the car with the clamp and started to leave.
as i came up to the exit there was a car ahead of me and his swipe wouldn't open the gate - total lockdown - then this young spotty faced security guard comes running towards me, stands infront of the car and tells me to get out and i'm not going anywhere. This asshole on a powertrip immediatly pissed me off.

he said he was under orders not to let me leave without paying the fine!!!
I told him not a chance. He said he was calling the gardai ... fine by me ... i'd like to have a word with them too.

eventually a sound security guard from the company i work for came down and they verified my details and who i worked, bla, bla, bla.

the prick on a power trip(the kind of asshole who should be banned from ever being a garda/bouncer/security guard) rang his boss and started waffling on. by this stage there was a bit of a queue forming to get out so they had to open the entry gate to let ppl out(didn't mean to cause anybody else any trouble but what can u do)

He handed the phone over to me to speak with his boss(his had was shaking like mad when he was giving me his phone ). His boss seemed sound enough too and explained where everybody stood on the matter. He seemed very interested in how i got the clamp off and also the behaviour of the guy who stopped me leaving. I got he feeling they had problems with him or were checking up on him or something? I don't know. Anyhow he said to let me go but I have been banned from using the carpark( swipe barred ) not that it makes much difference since it's usually full unless your in very early.

I got to go talk to the head bloke tomorrow about paying the fine/getting it waved. They want me to pay up first and they say i can then appeal to get it back ... yeah right!

we'll see what happens

Sounds fun. What if you refuse to pay?

stratos

excellent thread, nice one insert.
My vehicle has power tools inside I have never been clamped but if I ever do I will not just cut it off, I will cut into tiny pieces.
I did have a jeep with huge tyres for a while they never could clamp it !

alias no.9

[InsertHandle] wrote:

he said he was under orders not to let me leave without paying the fine!!!

That sounds like unlawful detention to me, kidnapping in other words.

alias no.9

[InsertHandle] wrote:

he said he was under orders not to let me leave without paying the fine!!!

That sounds like unlawful detention to me, kidnapping in other words. In fact, you should mention this when discussing payment.

Mr Magnolia

You have to be properly licenced to apply a clamp, I doubt very much that these guys are..

alias no.9 wrote:

That sounds like unlawful detention to me, kidnapping in other words. In fact, you should mention this when discussing payment.

This is a good point , definitely be worth mentioning at the 'meeting'.

I wouldn't pay them one cent, if they've banned you from the car park what else can they do?

Keep us posted & fair play to ya!

Idleater

alias no.9 wrote:

That sounds like unlawful detention to me, kidnapping in other words. In fact, you should mention this when discussing payment.

Not only that, now I am open to correction, but I was under the impression that if you were able to remove the clamp without damaging it you can leave it where your car was and/or return it to the owners of the clamp as "lost property" or something. I would have simply returned the clamp to them at the security gate and said "goodnight" to them. As you said, they "detained" you for apparently a reason that they thought was valid but I don't think actually is.

The thing is, the "fine" that you have to pay is for them to remove the clamp and has nothing whatsoever to do with a fine for parking somewhere where you are not supposed to. That is another matter entirely which is why you see a "fine" sticker/envelope on cars clamped in town as well as a "clamp removal" sticker/envelope.

Hope it goes well...

L.

WizZard

nereid wrote:

The thing is, the "fine" that you have to pay is for them to remove the clamp and has nothing whatsoever to do with a fine for parking somewhere where you are not supposed to. That is another matter entirely which is why you see a "fine" sticker/envelope on cars clamped in town as well as a "clamp removal" sticker/envelope.

This is a very important point.
Fair play to you for getting the clamp off.

JohnBoy

Did you give the clamp back?

invoice em a storage and handling charge

shabbyroad

insert you are my hero

thread of the week

Savman

sock it to the man!:D

Supercell

Hmm, screw the fine, if you can park somewhere else threaten to sue them for kidnap..the more wild the accusations the better, they are in the wrong for preventing you leaving and I bet the boss of the security firm knows that well.

As for removing the clamp with no damage to clamp or car..well played!!

lomb

the fact that legally they could do nothing is the main thing but perhaps it may have been better to pay if u used the car park the odd time. they have the rite to refuse u in future which they are exercising mayb sucking it up and paying them may have been better?still fair play i would have love to have seen his face:D

[InsertHandle]

Tried to post this earlier but didn't really get a chance ... so here's what happened ...

parked down the road 5 mins walk from work and strolled in this morning

When I got in my swipe wouldn't work on ANY door ... a quick visit to security sorted that out but the carpark is still off limits. Think some lazy guy just blocked me from everywhere instead of just the carpark.

Anywho dropped over to the building where the site security is based to see what the story was and guess who was sitting behind the reception desk... my arch-nemesis ... security man on a power trip. I was walking in the door when he saw me and picked up the phone. When I got to the desk (before I had even said a work) he was telling someone on the other end to come down ... that he had a "problem here and you need to get down here now"! As if I was about to start causing trouble!!!

Some other guy came down and started waffling on about what I did was "illegal" and "wrong", and how I was lucky they didn't call the gardai!!! I had been quite happily waiting for the gardai to come last night but he had called his boss instead(who told him to let me go)

Basically I’m barred from all carparks on site until I pay the €50 - never gonna happen. I've found a nice spot to park beside work where I’m not gonna get a ticket or clamped so I couldn't give a ****.

I'm kinda interested to see what the legal stance is on someone who owns the carpark privately clamping on it. I know I was in the wrong... I did park in an unofficial spot but I just think they need to get there're heads out of their company asses and deal with ppl on a human level. Here's the thing.. I wasn't blocking anybody from getting out of their parking spot or the flow or traffic around the carpark. We all have to work there so why not send an email or something first before sticking on a clamp... they have my parking permit number, licence plate and personal details I had to fill out to get the permit. I understand they have to keep some sort of order but a system of warnings/no charge for the first clamping and making the clamping policy clearer are just a start.

Part of me would love to outwit them in some legal loophole type thing but I doubt this will ever happen ... I know sweet feck all about the law and can't afford a solicitor just to make a point(any offers of pro-bono help are welcome). As it stands I've no problem parking off-site and going to work every day with the warm feeling in my heart that I beat the clamper this time

Savman

Clampers are stoopid. You can't beat them except by being more stoopider.

seamus

Private car parks cannot "fine" you for parking in the wrong spot. I'm not sure how legal it is to clamp on private property, but certainly they can only charge you for removal of the clamp, they cannot fine you for parking incorrectly on private property.

Since you removed the clamp, there was no need for you to pay anyone to remove it for you. Case closed.

They're well within their rights to tell you that you're not allowed park there anymore, though I suspect the security company is contracted by your company (or all of the companies who lease there), and ultimately your company has the final word on who goes in and out. A quick word with your premises dept about the conduct of the company, and I'd say you'd get access again.

johnnyrotten

Hagar wrote:

Lump hammer and a cold chisel should do the job. If they come along while you're doing it... well you have a lump hammer and a cold chisel...

Cabbage! :rolleyes:

PhoenixRising

What an episode! Well done Sir.

Tune in next week when [InsertHandle] takes on the Dublin City CoCo clampers....:D

SouperComputer

you could really get on their wick by changing cards and purposely parking the this spot, removing the clamp, tell "power trip guy" to get lost every second day or so.

Hagar

The thing to do now is ask, under the Data Protection Act, exactly what info they have on file for you. If they are libeling you, get some legal advice.

markpb

[InsertHandle] wrote:

I'm kinda interested to see what the legal stance is on someone who owns the carpark privately clamping on it. I know I was in the wrong... I did park in an unofficial spot but I just think they need to get there're heads out of their company asses and deal with ppl on a human level.

It might be different where you work but here there are only a few parking spaces (I think about 30 for 18 companies) so each company pays about 15k (I think) for each spot. Clamping is done for people parking in other companys spaces and in common areas simply because if they let them do that, no-one would pay for their spaces anymore - it's just revenue protection.

WizZard

seamus wrote:

Private car parks cannot "fine" you for parking in the wrong spot. I'm not sure how legal it is to clamp on private property, but certainly they can only charge you for removal of the clamp, they cannot fine you for parking incorrectly on private property.

Since you removed the clamp, there was no need for you to pay anyone to remove it for you. Case closed.

They're well within their rights to tell you that you're not allowed park there anymore, though I suspect the security company is contracted by your company (or all of the companies who lease there), and ultimately your company has the final word on who goes in and out. A quick word with your premises dept about the conduct of the company, and I'd say you'd get access again.

This is the most succinct advice given so far. I'd go for it. At least make a complaint to your premises dept about the behaviour of the security company representative (power-trip guy) towards you.

cardoor

I work for a large multinational in the IT Dept. I know how to setup up the Swipe/ID Cards. Normally they are all setup using a template which would give access to X amount particular doors, gates, etc. I bet in your case they had to remove your access to the Car Park by simply unticking a box in the Security System. Lose your card and get a new one. I bet you will get access to the Car Park back once they setup the new card. Then just park in a proper spot anymore.
If they lock you in again contest your right to use the car park unless you were notified the last time in writing.

DukeDredd

Just want to say respect to the OP. Well done mate.

Best thread i've read in ages.

loyatemu

i'd be wary of going to your company facilities dept. the security people have been given their authority by your company. While you're entitled to protest their heavy-handedness, multi-nationals are generally unsympathetic to employees causing trouble and they may not necessarily take your side.