Have anybody heard or been summonsed for removing a private company car clamp?

rocksteady36

Want to see if anyone has been brought to court for clamping, or has any news articles or info etc on the subject

Thanks..

William Powell

This might be something like your looking for
Most Car Clamping completly illegal

rocksteady36

I read that, I would love to speak with Mazdafarl to confirm his story, heard it on boards.ie and other boards. You can't take clamps off like that nowadays..They wrap it around the axel or something else that the wheel is attached to, so you need to unbolt that too. He got charged with theft..He put clamp in boot.

But I would love an article..I recently got clamped...

I read that there is no legislation for clamping on private property at citizens.ie

As far as I can tell if you take off a clamp either by removing wheel and some other bolts you can take it off. also you can get a pick to unlock the padlock. The locks they use are disc detainer locks, and you can get the picks online.

If you manage to get the clamp off without damaging it and by not moving it from the location you can get away without paying.

You can only get charged for damage to property and theft..

It is a fact that there is no law that makes clamping legal or illegal on private property so this could mean there has been no case law either that set a precedent..So does that mean no one has ever been prosecuted for taking a clamp off without damaging it or stealing it..

So I am looking for any personal experiences in court and any way to verify them..The clamper who removed my clamp, yes I paid, told me that someone got 6 months for damaging the clamp on private property.

I find that hard to believe, but may be there were other issues, like contempt of court, or violence etc..

So any verifiable stories, or stories I can research would be great.

In the UK its been banned on private property, a scottish judge called it extortion and theft..I agree...But don't want ppl to debate the rights and wrongs of clamping..thanks.

dudara

This isn't a Consumer Issue - let's try Legal Discussion

dudara

Tom Young

There is an article in the Law Society Gazette on this subject by one of our mods. You can find it here: www.lawsociety.ie I think it was April Ed.

FreudianSlippers

March 2011, a good article!

rocksteady36

I read it, the last paragraph...

"It appears, therefore, that there are legal difficulties in engaging in the practice of private clamping under Irish law, given that the defence of voluntary assumption of risk has been virtually abolished. English authority relies on this doctrine as the basis for the lawfulness of private clamping, which cannot operate in Ireland without a parol agreement or agreement under seal. Furthermore, car parks, that act as a business, risk having a term that requires “any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation” regarded as an unfair term – and void as a penalty clause at common law."

http://www.lawsociety.ie/Documents/Gazette/Gazette%202011/March2011.pdf

Unfortunately Fine Gael are about to legalise it by bringing in legislation to cream off the top no doubt..

Also, England and wales just banned it..Scotland have banned it previously..

They treid to regulate it but it didn't change the clampers behaviour..There is this belief that some private clampers are ok compare to others..

But obviously the UK have admitted there all extortionists..They now have a ticketing system..

So Fine Gael know this but still try to regulate it..The guy turned up to remove my clamp with a knife proof vest, not a good sign for the state of affairs..He is from one of the supposedly good ones NCPS.

jhegarty

The WIT case (clampers lost) is the only case I am aware of.

rocksteady36

jhegarty wrote: »

The WIT case (clampers lost) is the only case I am aware of.

Same here, but is it real, or just an urban myth...I can't find anything and the judge was meant to William Harnett, the date 11th or 18th Jan 2007 in Waterford District Court, but I can't find anything, may be some solicitor here knows how to get that info...

MagicSean

Basically if you remove and return a private clamp without damaging it you have nothing to worry about.

newkidonblock

My daughter was clamped by apcoa a few months ago

I rang the clampers and told them i was removing the clamp myself if they didnt remove it

I gave them my name and phone number, and all my contac details, and i proceeded to cut the clamp with an axle grinder and then rang them to tell them what i had done and where it was.

To this day we have heard nothing.

I did threaten to sue them for criminal damage to the car

It is a criminal offence to interefere with someone elses property,

billyhead

newkidonblock wrote: »

My daughter was clamped by apcoa a few months ago

I rang the clampers and told them i was removing the clamp myself if they didnt remove it

I gave them my name and phone number, and all my contac details, and i proceeded to cut the clamp with an axle grinder and then rang them to tell them what i had done and where it was.

To this day we have heard nothing.

I did threaten to sue them for criminal damage to the car

It is a criminal offence to interefere with someone elses property,

Does apcoa not work on behalf of the county council. I was given a fixed parking charge in a public park car park 2 weeks ago for 40 euro which I paid to the council via the apcoa website.

newkidonblock

billyhead wrote: »

Does apcoa not work on behalf of the county council. I was given a fixed parking charge in a public park car park 2 weeks ago for 40 euro which I paid to the council via the apcoa website.

they do in some counties, where they have replaced traffic wardens, but in these cases they actually only issue fixed notice penalties, and the notice contains a reference to the relevant legislation.

If you get a ticket unless there is a reference to what road traffic act the ticket is issued for they cannot enforce it, nor can they sue you for damage done to the clamp if you remove it, as they have illegally interferef with your car.

Melion

newkidonblock wrote: »

My daughter was clamped by apcoa a few months ago

I rang the clampers and told them i was removing the clamp myself if they didnt remove it

I gave them my name and phone number, and all my contac details, and i proceeded to cut the clamp with an axle grinder and then rang them to tell them what i had done and where it was.

To this day we have heard nothing.

I did threaten to sue them for criminal damage to the car

It is a criminal offence to interefere with someone elses property,

So surely you have committed a crime by interfering with the clamp.

newkidonblock

Melion wrote: »

So surely you have committed a crime by interfering with the clamp.

No you have taken reasonable steps to free your vehicle after it has been interfered with.

newkidonblock

i posted this a couple of months ago, still no correspondence from apcoa




We were clamped by a private clamper on Sunday morning.
The only phone number supplied was an automated number to allow payment by credit card. There were no operators answering the phones on a Sunday, only a voice mail service, which didnt even say there was noone on duty till the Monday.
Eventually I found a number for the Management company and when ringing it late on Sunday got a simple p*** off and pay the fee, when I asked waht legal right they had to interfere with my property I got no answer.
A quick visit to the local Garda station followed, and after an interesting discussion they said they had no interest and would not intervene if I cut the clamp.
On the Monday I got talking to someone who said that the management company had given them the permission to interfere with our property. I asked them to provide me with the legislation that allowed them 1 - interfere with my car and 2 -demand money they could not do so.
I left several voice messages since and no response so the end result is to be seen above
I did leave them a voice mail letting them know there clamp was still where they left it, and yet again they have not returned my call.

prizefighter

I know Mazdafarl so I'll tell him you wanna hear from him with regard to the clamp removal case. It's been a few years but as I recall, he was given a summons for theft and possession of stolen property(the clamp), the judge ruled that the property/clamp was placed on his car illegally (without any legal grounds) and therefore he was within his rights to remove the clamp to free his car. He was also told he had the option for pursuing the clamping company due to THEIR illegal activities. As I said, it was a few years back now but I'll send him a link for this thread and see if he'll come and explain it all to you.

MagicSean

The sooner the legislation comes in the better. These people who give out about their management company clamping are most likely the first ones who would be complaining if someone was parked in their spot. I'm really sick of hearing about these martyrs.

Cin1586

I had an interesting one today and not sure how whether to continue with the issue.

Basically I parked in my apartments underground carpark as I always do. I have a permit that allows me to park there. Unfortunately though the sticky thing came away from the windscreen and the permit along with it fell onto the dash board. It's my own fault cause I never noticed it but it's clear what happened when you look at the windscreen. Unfortunately though today I went out to my car to find it was clamped by the NCPS. I rang them and explained and they insisted I would have to pay the fine and appeal the decision. I was so angry and upset. I then rang my management company who told me to ring the NCPS back and ask them to come out and see the permit I had. Tried that and again was told that they wouldn't come out. So I gave in and paid the fee. I paid 85 euro on my card and then I had 10 euro on me. I didn't fancy going downstairs to meet them on my own my BF is away so I told the man on the phone that I would put the 10 euro in an envelope and leave it on the windscreen for the clampers. He said to me several times that if the clampers arrived and the money was not there they wouldn't remove the clamp but I said I would take the risk. Just didn't like the idea of meeting them by myself.

So I left the money and actually went far enough away from the car and waited. Really I just wanted to make sure that nobody else took the money! Last bit of money I had! So the NCPS car arrived, they got out, took the money from the envelope and left!! Didn't even remove the clamp! I thought they must be coming back but when they didn't I realised that they had just taken the money.

I immediately rang the NCPS back and told them. He put me on hold and must have rang the guys in the van and told them I had seen them! He then got back on the phone and told me they would be back! When I asked why this had happened he said 'I don't know what they were thinking, I had marked it as de clamp'. I asked him did he not think this was really suspect that they knew I was by myself and had said I would leave the money and they had just taken it. He told me if I had an issue I would need to put it through the appeals procedure.

So I wasn't happy with that and I decided to ring my local Garda station, mostly cause now I was a bit worried that they would come back and be annoyed that I had watched them! They Guard in fairness was lovely, told me to ring them if I needed to but there wasn't much they could do unless they didn't remove the clamp.

Now I haven't gone back down to see if the clamp is gone, to be honest I might be being a bit too cautious but after they took the money I don't trust them. So I will wait until the morning and go down with my boyfriend. I would imagine they have removed it now though!

I sent all this information to both my management company and the NCPS appeals procedure, but from what I am reading online its unlikely I will see anything from them in terms of a refund so just wondering if it's even worth my time persuing it. Guess I am just more worried that they know that I live were I am and don't want any trouble!

I really wish the people who did this were trust worthy and I guess I'm just glad I didn't go down and meet them with the money in person!