Clamped illegally

rolloutking

I have been using a visitors parking permit every day for the last 2 months as I am staying at a place temporarily.

I had been scratching off the year, month and day and there had been no problems until today when I got a clamp because I hadn't scratched off the start time.

I argued with the lady on the phone that I was parked for the full day and as it is a 24hour pass, that I didn't realise I needed to add a start time.

She stated that it's on the terms and conditions that a time must be added. A typical moronic answer.

I understand that if I didn't add a date then I could try and use the same pass on another day but on my pass I had scratched out the day, month and year.

I am frustrated at because I don't see any way I could be exploiting the system by not adding a time. I bought the visitor pass and will not be saving any money by not adding a time.

Has anyone has any experience of this and is there anything that i can do?

Alanstrainor

What clamping company?

biko

So it's not illegally?

Anyway, you need to meet the terms of the contract/company.
What company is this?

rolloutking

Well ok, maybe not illegally but very very unfair.

It's Dublin Street Parking Services.

I have been clamped in town before and totally accepted I was wrong so just took my punishment by paying up.

However this time I simply didn't scratch out a time because there is not really a start time unless i was supposed to put midnight and then it would run for 24hours until midnight the day after.

I always make sure I have a ticket and clean the window every morning so the ticket is clearly on display. I also blu-tak it to the dashboard so theres no chance it will blow over.

I cannot believe they have done me because the clampers check my street every day and never had any problems until now.

TheChizler

OSI wrote: »

Put ticket in window at 00:01 with just the date, come back at 23:59 and scratch off time, now you can stay till 23:59 the following day. There you go, 47 hours and 58 minutes for the price of 24 and you've exploited the system.

I love a technicality, but if they were clamped on the same day as the date scratched out then they couldn't possibly have been there for more than 24 hours (unless you lied about the date but you could do that anyway). If they clamped at 00:01 the next day IMO they would be justified in doing that as they could have overstayed their permit, but being clamped for not filling in a time when they couldn't yet have used up the time on the permit is just mean (then again we are talking about a clamping company).

rolloutking

OSI wrote: »

Put ticket in window at 00:01 with just the date, come back at 23:59 and scratch off time, now you can stay till 23:59 the following day. There you go, 47 hours and 58 minutes for the price of 24 and you've exploited the system.

If I did this and came back at 23.59 then 1 minute later it would be a new day and therefore the date would need to be incremented by one so the existing ticket would then be invalid?

Or have I misunderstood?

Tigger

is it a 24 or a one day pass?
can we see it ?

rolloutking

I can't post images or links because I am just new to the board but it was a 24hour pass.

I have already sent in my appeal so hopefully they have some common sense.

Marcusm

You won't succeed with your appeal; I use these regularly too although I often start them at 8pm and thus most of the permit covers the following day. This is why they need you to scratch the time. It's tough but that's why the number and AM/PM are on the form; you cannot reasonably miss them.

kingtut

Unfortunately as you didn't adhere to the terms and conditions on the back you have no come back.

Tigger

rolloutking wrote: »

I can't post images or links because I am just new to the board but it was a 24hour pass.

I have already sent in my appeal so hopefully they have some common sense.

Yeah a 24 hour pass would need the time I suppose where as a daily one would t

jesseps

As a foreigner living in Ireland, I find it strange that they automatically clamp here (by a private company). Where I am from, they clamp your car, if you don't pay after receiving x-amount of parking tickets (both done by the city).

Marcusm

jesseps wrote: »

As a foreigner living in Ireland, I find it strange that they automatically clamp here (by a private company). Where I am from, they clamp your car, if you don't pay after receiving x-amount of parking tickets (both done by the city).

Parking tickets were regarded as an "option to pay" historically as enforcement was so poor with the result that clamping was introduced. MAtters have improved (reportedly); however, despite widespread computerisation of car ownership data etc, civil enforcement procedures are still fairly backward (when compared with the UK, for example, where a civil bailiff would simply be sent around after a short circuit mags court procedure).

Clamping is a poor outcome for all as the cost of each clamping is something like €150 with the result that the release fee is substantially less than the cost of installing and removing the clamp meaning that parking revenues are used make up the difference.