Any time limit before they clamp your car

ECO_Mental

First thing first I did park in a place where they said you will get clamped big huge sign in front of my nose when I got out.

Backround,

• Ordered pizza from Four Star in Douglas and decided to collect.
• Sunday evening approx 7pm(place deserted)
• Parked car in Douglas Mills car park, walked 30 meters to Four Star.
• Paid the piazza dude, (pizzas were ready) and walked back to car.
• CAR CLAMPED:mad: writing up the ticket, I was actually impressed he got it on so fast.
• Add insult to injury had to pay additional €40 to realease the clamp because it was out of hours he stayed next to the car €160 in total (expensive pizza:o)

Anyway my question is there any time limit where they have to leave the car before they can clamp it? I mean I was only gone 5-10mins at max.

Grasping at straws here but may as well ask the question. Whats driving me mad is the company wont give me their clamping/guidlines/rules etc so I can see my self.


thanks

Mc1981

I don't think there's any time limit unless the sign says so.
Unfortunately they were probably watching you park there if they got the clamp on that fast.

Chris_Heilong

its the 5 or 10 minute parkers they are after.

Marcusm

You were the most profitable "customer" they had all day as they didn't need to return for the release!

ironclaw

If its a private car park or company, nope. You literally have to walk straight to the machine. They were definitely watching you as most clampers, to be fair, give a car without a ticket 5 to 10 mins for the owner to return. They saw you leaving the car park so they swooped down. Kinda creepy when you think of it.

Dublin Corp. apparently allow 15 mins from when you arrive. I can't confirm myself but apparently its written on the machines and the ticket. Might actually check myself next time I swing by.

corktina

they are trying to stop people abusing their car park no doubt

ofcork

The owner of that car park was on radio a few months ago complaining about people parking all over the place,in one case right up to a shop door so people couldn't get out,said clamping had to be introduced.

Anan1

ironclaw wrote: »

Dublin Corp. apparently allow 15 mins from when you arrive. I can't confirm myself but apparently its written on the machines and the ticket. Might actually check myself next time I swing by.

Dún Laoghaire definitely do that - you can be assured of 15 minutes, but I wouldn't risk 20!

OP - did you park somewhere where you had to pay or somewhere where you just weren't allowed to park full stop?

ECO_Mental

OP - did you park somewhere where you had to pay or somewhere where you just weren't allowed to park full stop?

It is pay parking but I think I did park where I souldnt have been, anybody from douglas will know its a small square to the left as you go into the mills and I think that small square is a private carpark. But it was 7pm on a Sunday evening all the buisness were closed and all I was doing was picking up a pizza and I wasnt going to bother pay for parking that late at night for a 5min job.

lonestargirl

Anan1 wrote: »

Dún Laoghaire definitely do that - you can be assured of 15 minutes, but I wouldn't risk 20!

The 15/20 mins grace in DL and Dublin only applies if you have bought a ticket though, it's after it expires.

ironclaw

lonestargirl wrote: »

The 15/20 mins grace in DL and Dublin only applies if you have bought a ticket though, it's after it expires.

This is the confusion I have. My understanding, and I have no read a machine or ticket, is that its 15 mins from when you arrive. There is no grace on the expiration. Which would make sense because you could pay for 45 mins and get an hour, so 25% off. And I can't see them being so gracious to be honest.

However, on Dun Laoghaires site under a Christmas promotion:

Motorists who pay for a minimum 60 minutes parking will be given 60 minutes free parking time in addition to the 15 minute grace period already available throughout the County.

I can't find any reference to grace periods of Dublin City Councils sites.

Arthur Beesley

Did you have you hazard lights on?

dr.fuzzenstein

corktina wrote: »

they are trying to stop people abusing their car park no doubt

1: Absolutely agree
and
2: here we go again, duck!
Usually this is queue the "I park everywhere I want and then cut off the clamp brigade".
Of course, everyone should just be allowed to screech to a halt whenever they feel like it, abandon the car across three lanes and shout "I'll only be a minaaa, need smoke and lottery tickets!"

Anan1

lonestargirl wrote: »

The 15/20 mins grace in DL and Dublin only applies if you have bought a ticket though, it's after it expires.

ironclaw wrote: »

This is the confusion I have. My understanding, and I have no read a machine or ticket, is that its 15 mins from when you arrive. There is no grace on the expiration. Which would make sense because you could pay for 45 mins and get an hour, so 25% off. And I can't see them being so gracious to be honest.

However, on Dun Laoghaires site under a Christmas promotion:



I can't find any reference to grace periods of Dublin City Councils sites.

It's at both ends, ie you don't need a ticket for the first 15 mins, and you get 15 mins after your ticket has expired. It is strictly enforced though.

keithclancy

Why didn't you just park up on the footpath outside the pizza place and leave the hazards on ?

You wouldn't have been clamped then

ECO_Mental

Well I have just lodged a cheque from the clamping company in question after arguing my case.

So F you to all the all high and mighty posters whose smart arsed comments saying oh yeah put your hazards on etc insinuating I park anywhere I want... If a person cant park their car for literately 5 mins in an empty car park out of the way not blocking anybody on a Sunday evening to do business without the risk of being clamped then something is wrong!

Guy:Incognito

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Well I have just lodged a cheque from the clamping company in question after arguing my case.

So F you to all the all high and mighty posters whose smart arsed comments saying oh yeah put your hazards on etc insinuating I park anywhere I want... If a person cant park their car for literately 5 mins in an empty car park out of the way not blocking anybody on a Sunday evening to do business without the risk of being clamped then something is wrong!

If its a car park you have to pay for then nothing is wrong.

REXER

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Well I have just lodged a cheque from the clamping company in question after arguing my case.

So F you to all the all high and mighty posters whose smart arsed comments saying oh yeah put your hazards on etc insinuating I park anywhere I want... If a person cant park their car for literately 5 mins in an empty car park out of the way not blocking anybody on a Sunday evening to do business without the risk of being clamped then something is wrong!

Great result! :cool:

djimi

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If its a car park you have to pay for then nothing is wrong.

Agreed. Im amazed this appeal was upheld, because there is little reason to think that it would be. You use a pay and display car park and dont pay then you take your chances; there can be no cause for complaint if you end up clamped.

mickdw

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Well I have just lodged a cheque from the clamping company in question after arguing my case.

So F you to all the all high and mighty posters whose smart arsed comments saying oh yeah put your hazards on etc insinuating I park anywhere I want... If a person cant park their car for literately 5 mins in an empty car park out of the way not blocking anybody on a Sunday evening to do business without the risk of being clamped then something is wrong!

I agree that it is a disgrace that some common sense cannot be used in cases such as yours given that the place was empty and they would have had a fair idea that you were only stopping for a minute.
Having said that, Im shocked that they gave you the cash back as clearly they were not in the wrong.
How did you state your appeal? What case did you make as it might be useful in the future as for the most part, clampers wont give money back until you can show that they were 100% in the wrong.

Celly Smunt

keithclancy wrote: »

Why didn't you just park up on the footpath outside the pizza place and leave the hazards on ?

You wouldn't have been clamped then

Ah yeah, just activate the "park anywhere" buttons sure.

REXER

djimi wrote: »

Agreed. Im amazed this appeal was upheld, because there is little reason to think that it would be. You use a pay and display car park and dont pay then you take your chances; there can be no cause for complaint if you end up clamped.

Except in this case it seems that they were just a little bit underhand in how they went about it.

Again OP, a great result!

dr.fuzzenstein

ECO_Mental wrote: »

Well I have just lodged a cheque from the clamping company in question after arguing my case.

So F you to all the all high and mighty posters whose smart arsed comments saying oh yeah put your hazards on etc insinuating I park anywhere I want... If a person cant park their car for literately 5 mins in an empty car park out of the way not blocking anybody on a Sunday evening to do business without the risk of being clamped then something is wrong!

Well done and I am amazed they gave you your money back. Congrats OP. Strictly speaking you didn't have a case, even if what happened to you is a bit much.
I do agree that the rules is the rules and all that, but a car park that charges Sunday evening and actually has clampers lurking in the bushes to pounce on any unsuspecting car that's there for longer than 30 seconds smacks a bit of dirty business practice, desperation and a lot of "we fcuk you because we can".
Please let everyone know where this car park is, so people can avoid that part of town. A car park is a business and any business that treats it's customers like that is one I don't want to give my money to.

ECO_Mental

To be honest guys I started the appeal process just out of sport just to annoy them.;)

I started asking them to forward on to me the rules and regulations they operate under to see if there was any loop hole I could appeal under. I was just being awkward. I said to myself if at least I can cost them the €160 in man hours replying to my emails then I will get some satisfaction. What annoyed me was that the appeal process you have to go through is you send them a letter/email explaining your case and they then say "NO" there is no transparency as to what rules/laws they are judging you on apart from them putting up a sign saying you will be clamped here.

I said if I was clamped by a local authority and they "imprisoned" my car then I would be entitled to to know what laws they imprisoned my car under but the clamping company's will not provide you with this information only "we put a sign saying you will be clamped" I just kept asking them for the laws that entitled them to do this and they wouldn't give me a straight answer.

All this took about four to six weeks they would send me a email and I would bounce another one back looking for more info and if they didn't reply then I would send them a reminder and to be honest I was nearly calling it quits and sending them an email saying at least I annoyed someone and generated work for someone and F you but out of the blue they said that they will be refunding my money.... I couldn't believe it

Here's to sticking to to the man:cool:

PS come on Ireland...rugby world cup in bag lads