Clamped!

Shane732

This thread brought a tear to my eye. It's perhaps the most amazing thread I've ever read.

Fair play to everyone involved!

If anyone happens to know where Anan1's car is normally parked then I may have an idea for the clamp.

Just on the bolt cutters - do they actually work?

Pawwed Rig

Yawns wrote: »

Nope not at all. There was a shop selling them a few years ago as well.

Afaik it's legal to own them but if found on your person and a guard believes you had intent to use them for illegal purposes then you can be in trouble. if a guard stopped a locksmith going to someone's house who called out for him, there is no intent for criminal activity.

On the flip side if a guard finds a 16 year old lad walking down the street with a set on him at say 2:30 am, then he can assume intent to use them in a criminal activity.

I would love to be able to use lock picks but as last night showed me, I wouldn't be able to remove a clamp with them unless I was good enough to do it in seconds. If I had a set of picks on me last night when the guards showed up, I'd be in the back of the car on the way to the local station. That was the guards attitude when they first showed up. When it was made clear no damage was caused whatsoever they relaxed and left laughing. But for the first few minutes the senior guard was bulling and even claimed to be able to arrest me for taking pictures even tho it was all happening in a public place. I just did what he said and put the camera away so as not to make the situation any worse.

Basically they got called to say some1 was damaging a clamp. They came down with that in mind and acted like that for the first few minutes. When they relaxed, opened up and chatted then they realised that no criminal activity was going on and it was all a civil matter in the end since no damage occurred. Providing the clamp was given back otherwise it would be theft. A call was made to the company whilst the guards were on the scene to avoid that.

Called the Guards in Naas once when there was a vicious assault in progress and it took them >40 mins to show. 4 guys at a clamp and they are there in mins

but that is another argument

fasttalkerchat

Shane732 wrote: »

This thread brought a tear to my eye. It's perhaps the most amazing thread I've ever read.

Fair play to everyone involved!

If anyone happens to know where Anan1's car is normally parked then I may have an idea for the clamp.

Just on the bolt cutters - do they actually work?

A big set of bolt cutters should go through any lock. I cant imagine what material makes to locks cut resistant to that level.

ANXIOUS

Shane732 wrote: »

This thread brought a tear to my eye. It's perhaps the most amazing thread I've ever read.

Fair play to everyone involved!

If anyone happens to know where Anan1's car is normally parked then I may have an idea for the clamp.

Just on the bolt cutters - do they actually work?

Yeah they work, takes about 4-5 mins.

Yawns

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

A locksmith told me that it is illegal to own them and that although they use them on private property they don't advertise that they can pick a lock and usually opt to cut a lock where possible.
Looking online it seems that you are right.

It could just be that lock smith not wanting you to start learning it yourself or maybe he was unsure of the law. I popped into the local hardware shop where the man there said he will send someone out to the door and first thing they try is lock picking to avoid any damage if at all possible.

kildare.17hmr

Well clamp was handed back to the clamper this evenin, first thing he said was "are you the lads off the internet last night?" hahaha

he asked if we broke it and i showed it to him and said its as it was left on the car with no damage and he said thats grand cheers!

He was just after clampin an old woman in a golf she looked real sad. I was so tempted to start again and there was 3 more clamped in the same carpark

Anyway enjoy!

Yawns

Last pic added in to the main set so it's all complete now. Imagine the guards if you were at it again with 4 clamps this time!

Gary ITR

Brilliant Kildare... the ****ers saw us talking about it here so

I bought a cheap lock picking set from dealextreme.com for €5-6. They're grand.

Just from youtube vids, and experience, I can get many normal padlocks open in seconds. The clamp I removed, I didn't pick, but now, I have no problem picking the lock that I removed with the clamp (simply because I have practiced with it so much). I can normally get a 3-4-5 pin padlock (with no safety pins) open in a few seconds.

Just a note, I believe some clampers use Disc Detainer(no pins) locks. This are much more difficult to pick, and a special tool is needed, normal picks won't do.

If you're really interested in it, buy a cheap set and just practice.

(It has actully gotten to stage where I have lost the keys to some locks, so just pick them when I need them open )

Yawns

That or it was brought to their attention this morning by someone who heard of this thread. I still reckon it was a passer by the rang the company who then rang the guards.

Altho it could be possible from watching this thread as it was mentioned on thread where the car was located. Oh well, alls well that ends well. Nothing damaged, car freed and everyone's happy.

Yawns

I saw that before joker and was tempted to buy them to try it. Glad I didn't in hindsight as if I had them with me last night I'd have been in trouble.

Yawns

Yawns wrote: »

I saw that before joker and was tempted to buy them to try it. Glad I didn't in hindsight as if I had them with me last night I'd have been in trouble.

Not necessarily. Yes, it is a offense to carry something with the intention of doing something illegal with it, but could opening a clamp lock be considered illegal? It a really grey area when it comes to clamps.

I used to carry the picks in the car but was advised not to by a member on here over in the legal discussion forum

vanman10

Great work lads, I usually deal with it the same way.

oleras

Fantastic read, brought a rather large smile to my face.

Fair play to the lads helping out.

I can see a motors sub-forum in the making.

Yawns

Deleted User wrote: »

Not necessarily. Yes, it is a offense to carry something with the intention of doing something illegal with it, but could opening a clamp lock be considered illegal? It a really grey area when it comes to clamps.

I used to carry the picks in the car but was advised not to by a member on here over in the legal discussion forum

Unfortunately it's that much a of gray area that I would have found myself having to explain it to a judge the way the guards were when they arrived last night. The guards were under the assumption we were removing a clamp belonging to a company who have a licence to clamp people there. Don't worry, we quickly informed him they have no such licence and it's an unregulated racket in private car parks. Only local authority and city councils etc can legally clamp you and you can't interfere with it.

RoundyMooney

Lads, fair play to you.

Why couldn't your man drop the clamp back himself?

Paparazzo

We should have a poll. Which thread is better, this one or tbh's thread on getting hit in a car park http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056639783

If you do go down the bolt cutters route, is there anywhere that can replace the link you cut, and how many links do you need to cut?

Paparazzo

Paparazzo wrote: »

We should have a poll. Which thread is better, this one or tbh's thread on getting hit in a car park http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056639783

If you do go down the bolt cutters route, is there anywhere that can replace the link you cut, and how many links do you need to cut?

One link and the chain would be broke. But you would probably have to replace more than one link.

Yawns

RoundyMooney wrote: »

Lads, fair play to you.

Why couldn't your man drop the clamp back himself?

An agreement with the guards to ensure it goes back to the clampers. I think kildare.17hmr lives closest to the car park.

John_D80

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Feck, I would even pay full price of clamp removing to a fella from boards.ie, then give it to those scumbags!

Massive +1 on this.

To hand over money to those parasitic bastards must seriously grind. I'm all for a fella makin a living but when you're livelihood is based on inflicting misery and frustration on ordinary decent people then you deserve all the bad karma you get in my opinion.

RoundyMooney

Yawns wrote: »

An agreement with the guards to ensure it goes back to the clampers. I think kildare.17hmr lives closest to the car park.

Cheers. I hope he stood them the price of a pint at least, after all that. All they were short of, was driving him home as well!

This private clamping is a disgusting practise.

pedantic.pat

Well done lads saw this yesterday and thought the op was fighting a lost cause and would only get grief from the high horses here. Checked in today and could not believe what had happened.

Excellent thread and well done to all involved.

RoundyMooney

Yawns wrote: »

Unfortunately it's that much a of gray area that I would have found myself having to explain it to a judge the way the guards were when they arrived last night. The guards were under the assumption we were removing a clamp belonging to a company who have a licence to clamp people there. Don't worry, we quickly informed him they have no such licence and it's an unregulated racket in private car parks. Only local authority and city councils etc can legally clamp you and you can't interfere with it.

This is worth highlighting actually. Hate to see good Samaritans or would be DIYers get into bother by removing council clamps.

kildare.17hmr

RoundyMooney wrote: »

Cheers. I hope he stood them the price of a pint at least, after all that. All they were short of, was driving him home as well!

This private clamping is a disgusting practise.

we made him put his own wheel back on!

Squ

Yawns wrote: »

Don't worry, we quickly informed him they have no such licence and it's an unregulated racket in private car parks. Only local authority and city councils etc can legally clamp you and you can't interfere with it.

So should i call the guards if i get clamped by one of these companies?

kildare.17hmr

Squ wrote: »

So should i call the guards if i get clamped by one of these companies?

no, the guards wont get involved as its a civil matter. if you damage the clamp or they damage your car then they can and will get involved. if your taking it off alone and wanted a witness they might come in handy!

Grolschevik

RoundyMooney wrote: »

This private clamping is a disgusting practise.

Yawns wrote: »

Only local authority and city councils etc can legally clamp you and you can't interfere with it.

RoundyMooney wrote: »

This is worth highlighting actually. Hate to see good Samaritans or would be DIYers get into bother by removing council clamps.

And it's worth emphasising that this only applies to private clampers clamping on private property (such as a Tesco car park).

It does not apply to private clamping companies contracted by a local authority to clamp on public streets, nor does it apply to clamping carried out by direct employees of local authorities on public streets.

That's the gist of this article, at p30 of this link:
http://www.lawsociety.ie/Documents/Gazette/Gazette%202011/March2011.pdf

Even then, the author says that it's a legal grey area that hasn't been properly tested in the Irish courts and he implies that legislation could straighten that grey area out pretty easily...

Pawwed Rig

Grolschevik wrote: »

Even then, the author says that it's a legal grey area that hasn't been properly tested in the Irish courts and he implies that legislation could straighten that grey area out pretty easily...

The clamping companies don't want to take a case to the courts as if they lose they are finished. Wasn't clamping outlawed in Scotland?

Our man in Havana

Wasn't clamping outlawed in Scotland?

Yes. It was likened to extortion.

Jimbob 83

Anan1 wrote: »

But you didn't get one over on them. The OP got one over on you. For 50c..

Nice outlook on life there :rolleyes: