Clamped!!

joc_06

Not sure if right forum so please move if incorrect.

Im a new resident in rathmines and i got clamped today. I just paid the E80 to get it off.

There was no more i could humanly do to get my permit faster. I needed to get my insurance changed to do this and for that i had to get a bill in my name which takes time.

I feel i have been clamped in the wrong - what can i do??
Have i any chance of getting my money back?
Whats the fastest way of getting a permit?
Whats to stop them clamping it again tomorrow and again and again until i finally get my permit which i wont for another 2 weeks at least id say

lomb

joc_06 wrote:

Not sure if right forum so please move if incorrect.

Im a new resident in rathmines and i got clamped today. I just paid the E80 to get it off.

There was no more i could humanly do to get my permit faster. I needed to get my insurance changed to do this and for that i had to get a bill in my name which takes time.

I feel i have been clamped in the wrong - what can i do??
Have i any chance of getting my money back?
Whats the fastest way of getting a permit?
Whats to stop them clamping it again tomorrow and again and again until i finally get my permit which i wont for another 2 weeks at least id say

lol, until u are displaying a permit u will b clamped every day. just pay the going rate until u have one.

dahamsta

When they can get away with clamping an ambulance in an ambulance bay, you don't have much hope...

http://beecher.ie/pheed/?nforld

adam

Guy:Incognito

dahamsta wrote:

When they can get away with clamping an ambulance in an ambulance bay, you don't have much hope...

http://beecher.ie/pheed/?nforld

adam

the ambulance wasnt on an emergency, it was there waiting for a passenger coming off a flight. what if someone had a heart attack in the depature lounge and another ambulance couldnt get up to the door, think of the outry if someone died. Obviously some other arrangement should have been made.

seamus

People don't use ambulances for a sightseeing tour of Dublin. They use them because they contain emergency equipment they require, or because they have a particular condition that means they can't get a taxi to the hospital. The ambulance bay is (I'd hope) the closest you can get to the plane. Ergo, ambulance goes in ambulance bay, so the patient doesn't have to take stairs, escalators and pedestrian crossings to the underground carpark.
If there was a second emergency, they could have parked on the path or something. It is an emergency after all.

[Jackass]

Stekelly wrote:

the ambulance wasnt on an emergency, it was there waiting for a passenger coming off a flight. what if someone had a heart attack in the depature lounge and another ambulance couldnt get up to the door, think of the outry if someone died. Obviously some other arrangement should have been made.

Why not just use the ambulance that's alreday there? All emgergency vehicles should be immune from clamping regardless of where they're parked imo. Or better yet, don't pay te clampers by commision, that way they wont clamp anything that moves...wouldn't be suprised if they tried to clamp me while waiting for traffic lights to change...TriggerHappy style

NotMe

DubGuy22 wrote:

that way they wont clamp anything that moves...

I don't think they do anyway.

leeroybrown

As said above you'll have to pay until you have a permit to display. You'll get zero comeback from the clampers.

There was also an interesting clamping case in Galway City a while back. A parent brought their young child to a doctors surgery and when they came having been told to bring the child to the hospital they had just been clamped. The doctor told the clamper that it was a medical emergency and that the car needed to be unclamped (neither had the necessary release fee). Shortly afterwards a Garda ordered the clamper to unclamp the car and after a refusal ended up paying from their own pocket.

An apology was issued in this case.

RainyDay

Collecting a passenger returning with ski injury is not an 'emergency'. If the passenger is stable enough to fly, they are stable enough to wait a few minutes for the ambulance to come over the from the car park to pick them up. A lot of these private ambulance services are awful chancers. They'll flick on the siren & lights to get them home for their tea. I wouldn't trust these guys not to abuse parking facilities, so I cancertainly understand why the clampers would need to watch them carefully.

breadmonkey

The problem is that clampers are f*uckin scumbags.

Does anyone remember the photo that was on the front of the Irish Times about a year ago? It was a picture of a wheel + clamp in a parking space; the owner of the car sucessfully removed them and drove off. He probably got nailed anyway but I still wish I had a copy of that photo!

RainyDay

ross*k wrote:

The problem is that clampers are f*uckin scumbags.

I disagree. It used to be impossible to find a parking spot around Dublin because of the chancers who would hog a metered spot all day and feed the meter at regular intervals. Now that the clampers enforce the law, it is reasonably easy to find a spot at key city centre locations for a couple of hours when needed.

It's easy to slag them off, but they are just enforcing the law - this makes it easier for everyone (except those chancers who want to abuse the law for their own purposes).

billy the squid

well at least we managed to give the rest of the world something else to sneer at us about

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6974464/
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/15/ireland.ambulance.ap/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4268353.stm

seamus

ross*k wrote:

The problem is that clampers are f*uckin scumbags.

This was done by Dublin Airport privately, not the normal clampers. Even they're not that dumb.

RicardoSmith

RainyDay wrote:

Collecting a passenger returning with ski injury is not an 'emergency'. If the passenger is stable enough to fly, they are stable enough to wait a few minutes for the ambulance to come over the from the car park to pick them up. A lot of these private ambulance services are awful chancers. They'll flick on the siren & lights to get them home for their tea. I wouldn't trust these guys not to abuse parking facilities, so I cancertainly understand why the clampers would need to watch them carefully.

I can imagine its a big problem, illegal parked ambulances. :rolleyes:

ZENER

Sorry for resurecting this thread but I have to comment here.

Firstly the vehicle that was clamped at Dublin Airport was NOT an ambulance in the true sense, it was a 7 seater MPV used by a private ambulance company to collect passangers that pre arranged collection for various reasons. This vehicle contained no stretchers or medical equipment of any kind. It was NOT there on an emergency call of any kind.

The papers "reports" of this incident were grossly innacurate and blatantly untrue in this case and reflected unfairly on the Airport Police staff involved.

It should also be noted that the Airport Authority makes facilities available to these companies for such situations but on this occasion the driver (dublin fire service man on a nixer btw) took it upon himself to ignore the procedures that have operated and worked for many years and to abuse airport staff who went out of their way to try to find the drivers. They were eating breakfast on the mezz level at the time while waiting for a flight that was not due for another 90 minutes.So the situation was that a non emergency vehicle was illegally parked in an emergency bay.

The details of this incident were largely ignored by the press and I also believe that the press officer at the airport could have done more to support the staff who are constantly under scrutiny from an ever more critical public.

ZEN

Downtime

joc_06 wrote:

Not sure if right forum so please move if incorrect.

Im a new resident in rathmines and i got clamped today. I just paid the E80 to get it off.

There was no more i could humanly do to get my permit faster. I needed to get my insurance changed to do this and for that i had to get a bill in my name which takes time.

I feel i have been clamped in the wrong - what can i do??
Have i any chance of getting my money back?
Whats the fastest way of getting a permit?
Whats to stop them clamping it again tomorrow and again and again until i finally get my permit which i wont for another 2 weeks at least id say

If you get something with your new address on it from your landlord you can get visitors passes that last 24 hours from the City Council offices.

seamus

I guess this is the best place for it.

RicardoSmith

ZENER wrote:

Sorry for resurecting this thread but I have to comment here.

Firstly the vehicle that was clamped at Dublin Airport was NOT an ambulance in the true sense, it was a 7 seater MPV used by a private ambulance company to collect passangers that pre arranged collection for various reasons. This vehicle contained no stretchers or medical equipment of any kind. It was NOT there on an emergency call of any kind.

The papers "reports" of this incident were grossly innacurate and blatantly untrue in this case and reflected unfairly on the Airport Police staff involved.

It should also be noted that the Airport Authority makes facilities available to these companies for such situations but on this occasion the driver (dublin fire service man on a nixer btw) took it upon himself to ignore the procedures that have operated and worked for many years and to abuse airport staff who went out of their way to try to find the drivers. They were eating breakfast on the mezz level at the time while waiting for a flight that was not due for another 90 minutes.So the situation was that a non emergency vehicle was illegally parked in an emergency bay.

The details of this incident were largely ignored by the press and I also believe that the press officer at the airport could have done more to support the staff who are constantly under scrutiny from an ever more critical public.

ZEN

In that case it sounds like the crew need a slap.

Just shows that the standard of reporting in this country is absymal.

seamus

RicardoSmith wrote:

In that case it sounds like the crew need a slap.

Just shows that the standard of reporting in this country is absymal.

It's not that the reporting was poor, it's that papers now wnt to put spin on everything to suit what they think will sell papers. Nobody wants a story about an ambulance company's bus being rightly clamped. But a story about an ambulance being clamped in an ambulance zone. Well that's brilliant! Don't we all know that clampers are evil anyway? Here's more fuel for the fire. The story isn't wholly truthful? Pah! Who cares?

RicardoSmith

seamus wrote:

It's not that the reporting was poor, it's that papers now wnt to put spin on everything to suit what they think will sell papers. Nobody wants a story about an ambulance company's bus being rightly clamped. But a story about an ambulance being clamped in an ambulance zone. Well that's brilliant! Don't we all know that clampers are evil anyway? Here's more fuel for the fire. The story isn't wholly truthful? Pah! Who cares?

The either didn't get the facts right, or choose to ignore them. :mad:

I'd call that abysmal.

ZENER

Part of the conditions of employment contract at most companies is a NDC. Because of this the press office at the airport are the only legit source of info for the press. I blame them for not being fully aware of the facts surrounding the case and for unconditionally apologising for the actions of there own work collegues who were doing their job correctly and in accordance with procedure. Many staff feel that this was an afront to their integrity and feel let down by the company.

How ever much we display our dislike for clampers or whatever profession that's not in vogue today we have to accept that they have a job to do, but in this case the staff involved are highly trained Airport Police officers who approached this incident fairly from the point of view of the driver. They could have called the Gardai but didn't which saved the man his job I'd say.

Clamping the van was the absolute last resort because the officers were aware that this would make the space unavailable for a longer period but due to the attitude and behaviour of the driver - who insisted on locking himself into his "ambulance" for 10 minutes - and the failure of the drivers boss to negotiate with him no other option was left !!

I'd just like to point out here that the details provided above are from sources close to the incident but the comments and opinions expressed are my own and not those of DAA.

ZEN

mean mr mustard

i got clamped on the street i live on recently. i have the use of a pool car from work occasionally - it doesnt jusitfy coughing up the money for a residents permit. sometimes i feed the meter, sometimes i stick on a visitors permit, sometimes i dont bother doing anything at all as the clampers rarely come down the street. but i got caught a month or two ago and had to cough up the 80 euro fine.

i wrote a letter of compaint to the council saying that i had a valid visitors permit on the car at the time (i didnt) i included a photocopy of a visitors permit for the time i was clamped. i argued that it must have fallen down the side of the car when i closed the door. i also included photocopies of esb bills etc to prove i am a resident of the street in question. a week later my claim was denied in writing. but they advised me of an appeal form, so i filled that out - venemously, stating how unfair i felt this was, and how €80 was a lot of money to me, and went into a bit of a rant about 'rip-off ireland'.

a week letter i got a cheque for €40 as a goodwill gesture. better than nothing!!

my advice would be to fight it, get loads of proof that you are resident on the street and keep sending em letters and forms etc. takes a bit of effort but you might get some or all of the €80 back.

lomb

how much is a residential permit anyway?

HarryD

mean mr mustard wrote:

i got clamped on the street i live on recently. i have the use of a pool car from work occasionally -

You should have thought about that before you took the job !

A doctor friend got clamped, and she wrote to em, saying she was a doctor
on call, and the sign was in the window..
She got her money back..
That was in NI.. I think the guys in ROI are more ruthless though..

ZENER wrote:

Part of the conditions of employment contract at most companies is a NDC.

???
Do you mean NDA ?

dahamsta

lomb wrote:

how much is a residential permit anyway?

Fiver in Cork anyway. No idea why anyone would want to put it up and take it down like mean mr mustard. It comes with a "tax disc holder" down here that you affix to the inside of the windscreen, I see nothing to be gained by moving it.

Pity they gave in and gave him back that €40. Obviously doesn't understand the word "fraud".

adam

mean mr mustard

dahamsta - i said i sometimes display a visitors permit, not a permanent residential permit (i don't have one of those - i wasn't prepared to pay for one as i rarely have a car to park at my flat).

the visitors permits cost about €3.75 a pop. they are just a wee piece of paper that you can scratch off the date and times on and throw on your dashboard. i sometimes use them, i sometimes don't. depends on how long i'm gonna have the car parked there for. at the time i got clamped i wasn't using one. so i told a little white lie in order to make my claim...

as for the use of the word 'fraud'... i live on a quiet cul-de-sac. it is a good way out of the city centre.. not near any hospitals, supermarkets. there are ALWAYS plenty of parking spaces available. i live on the street, i wasn't parking there to go off shopping or visiting anyone. so i felt hard done by when i was clamped and yer damn right i contested it and tried to get my money back. i don't view it as fraud, not one f00kin bit.

Gordon

Well you did lie, to be honest. You must admit that it technically is fraud.

mean mr mustard

forgive me father...

...i signed nothing.

dahamsta

mean mr mustard wrote:

the visitors permits cost about €3.75 a pop. they are just a wee piece of paper that you can scratch off the date and times on and throw on your dashboard.

Ah, we call those "Parking Discs" down here in the People's Republic. Trust us culshies to come up with a logical, descriptive term, eh? (Although to be fair, they're not discs.)

as for the use of the word 'fraud'

You didn't use a parking disc in an area that obviously used one and got a ticket. Everything's A-OK so far. However when you challenged it, you committed fraud. It might not be selling the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting Texan, but it remains fraud.

adam

gurramok

mean mr mustard wrote:

the visitors permits cost about €3.75 a pop. they are just a wee piece of paper that you can scratch off the date and times on and throw on your dashboard. i sometimes use them, i sometimes don't. depends on how long i'm gonna have the car parked there for. at the time i got clamped i wasn't using one. so i told a little white lie in order to make my claim...
.

The cost must vary then from place to place.
My girlfriends street in D4 costs me €1.25 a pop for 24hr parking visitor permit when i sleep my car on her street

Capt'n Midnight

You need.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3112670.stm

Angle-grinder Man