Got Clamped today

Saruman

My ticket expired at 4:10 and i turned the corner at 4:28 to go to car and the clamper had just done his job and was going back to his van. Since it was done and called in nothing i could do. I was not happy as i had just been, before i found myself clamped, very happy at getting off work early and had a good day. That was shattered.

So i think fine ill call the number, pay by credit card and since he is here i can go on my way.. nope my credit card did not work. Over credit limit i later found out. I went all the way to Oconnel street (from eccles place) and found an ATM to get €80 out but found out i can only pay by cash at east wall road???? Not to the clampers.. So called my mother and got her lazer details..

In the end i was late home and €80 out of pocket.. Day was great till then..
Oh while i was waiting a friendly garda walked by and he was like "ah they are unbelievable!" obviously he sympathised with me.. probably been clamped himself.

You know what i would LOVE to do.. Get a load of clamps go to wherever they park their clamp mobiles and clamp them all.. then call the news and give them the story of the clampers who got clamped!!

l3rian

id love to modify the car to make it clamper proof

Red Alert

What could you do? Unless you modified the wheels to give a nice million-volt shock to the clamper!

Thorbar

Just buy yourself a clamp and stick it on your car everytime you park.

Tommy Vercetti

I'd love to modify a clampers face with a crowbar

rabbitinlights

A mate took a clamper company to court to pay for damage done to his car, it was a modded car and was very low etc, and while forcing the clamp around the wheel he cracked the entire front spoiler thing, but the clamper didnt stop, when he realised he couldnt do the front wheel he stuck it on the back. My mate went nuts and had to get CCTV to prove the guy did it because he denied it all.

They paid him and got it fitted for him and everything.

Pricks.


Sean


Ps, Mini's are ment to be impossible to clamp.

jabberwock

LOL!!!

you could modify the front wing to have a cover over the wheel.
Be like a big pimple on the front wheels..

be a bitch though if you got a flat!!!

Tommy Vercetti

seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools. I like the clamp-the-clampers idea - anyone know what they could do about it from a legal point of view?

Trebor

Originally posted by Tommy Vercetti
seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools.

best way to do this would be if you see someones ticket is about to run out be a pal and get another one for them

or start a company that sells parking tickets that you pay a monthly fee for and thus ticket would never expire might need council approval for this

Pacifico

Originally posted by Trebor
best way to do this would be if you see someones ticket is about to run out be a pal and get another one for them

Or pay people to do it*......



* This might not work

Chinafoot

ok im gonna say this knowing that im gonna get jumped on but.................you were almost 20mins over the ticket. sorry but i have no sympathy.

John R

I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

Trebor

Originally posted by John R
I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

Lump

As some one else said, buy a clamp and stick it on everytime you park up.


John

acid

Carry an oxy-acetylene torch, or an angle grinder in your boot. Problem solved.

PowerHouseDan

all you have to do (first make sure you have a pumped up spare tyre and just let down the air on the clamped one and hey its off,change the lis plates when your parked aswell

RicardoSmith

Did you all see that story in the papers about the father with the sick kids who rushes out of the dr on his way to the hospital and his car is clamped. The B***ard wouldn't free the car and a passing guard paid the fine to free the car.

Oriel

Heh, just leave the car in Tallaght - the clamper will have nothing to attach the clamp to

Saruman

Originally posted by peachypants
ok im gonna say this knowing that im gonna get jumped on but.................you were almost 20mins over the ticket. sorry but i have no sympathy.

Actually as far as i was aware you get 20 mins grace!! Oh and i should also add that on the ticket it said the time was 4:32 which was about 4 or 5 mins ahead of time, it was not even that time when i looked at the ticket!! I was standing right there at the clamper as he was writing the ticket out for me. So time does not mean much to them.. i could have been 2 mins late.. within whatever grace period it is (clamper said about 10 mins) but if i did not arrive back in time i would be clamped and the time on the ticked would NOT be correct.

Anyway the problem with clamping yor own car is simple, they can tow it and thats even worse as you also have to pay the tow fee and go off and find your car.
they have way too much authority. I read that thing in the papers too and the garda does not have authority over them even it seems!!

No they are evil! The clamper i talked to was actually a nice enough guy, said he was sorry but nothing he could do. he was African-Irish if you want to use that term. His irish counterpart seemed a bit like an ass though when he arrived.

Oh and peachypants.. do you drive? If you get clamped remember what you just said.

John R

Originally posted by Trebor
don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

A bill for what? it isn't a notice of a court summons like a parking ticket, they charge a "removal fee" If you remove it yourself they can only try to get you for damaging the clamp.


Aren't there rules about where they can tow a car from? AFAIK if you are parked in a no-parking zone you can get towed but if you park in a proper parking area they can only clamp.

Guy:Incognito

how bout not parking illegally or not staying longer than you paid for, surely thats the best way to beat the clampers, why dont you hate the guards in the same way, after all they stop you breaking laws aswell.

"about 10 minutes grace" means F**k all, that means that the clamper himself might give you a couple of minutes over to see if you show up, it doesnt mean there is an official grace period, and if there is im sure its to cover any discrepincies (sp/) in timeing between the actual time and the clampers/ your watch.

Trebor

Originally posted by John R
A bill for what? it isn't a notice of a court summons like a parking ticket, they charge a "removal fee" If you remove it yourself they can only try to get you for damaging the clamp.

sorry am not a driver i assumed that it was similar to the parking ticket thing

i have no sympathy for drivers though, they take up too much of the road

John R

Originally posted by Trebor
sorry am not a driver i assumed that it was similar to the parking ticket thing

i have no sympathy for drivers though, they take up too much of the road

I kind of agree with you, I rarely drive into the city now, I spend most of the time in the bus cursing all the selfish motorists cluttering up the streets and making me late.

RicardoSmith

I love not to need a car to get to work or even just to get around the city. But I have a choice do I take the car and take 40mins to get to work. Or do I get the bus and take 1.30-2hrs doing the same journey?

Mighty_Mouse

Galway County Council have taken action against the clampers who wouldnt release the clamp to allow a father parked outside a doctors surgery with a child suspected of meningitis to go to the hospital. They had actually clamped the doctors car to even though he had a "doctor on call" sign and had rushed there in an emergency!!! The guards were called and they still wouldnt remove the clamp so the guard himself had to pay the fine so they could rush the child to the hospital!!http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004/05/27/news/46848.html

I know a friend who pissed on the clamp before calling them!!

eth0_

Originally posted by Tommy Vercetti
seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools. I like the clamp-the-clampers idea - anyone know what they could do about it from a legal point of view?

duh, they're clampers, they'd be able to remove the clamp fairly quickly :OP
I think you need a licence to operate as a clamper too, so you'd be breaking the law :P


If you walk up the grand canal in front of the Esat building, you'll almost always see really flash cars clamped there. I don't know if the clampers in that area have a 'flash b*stard' vendetta, or the flash b*stards think they can park where the hell they like.

As for the guy who was clamped, you were 20 mins over your time! What would the point be in having a grace period, you know what time your parking expires, why not get back to your car in time?

Sleipnir

Originally posted by Trebor
don't they take your reg and send the bill to the registered address?

Naw, buy 4 clamps!
Then laugh into your sleeves as they walk around your car scratching their heads.


course, they could have you towed but it takes ages for them to arrive

Saruman

Originally posted by eth0_
duh, they're clampers, they'd be able to remove the clamp fairly quickly :OP
I think you need a licence to operate as a clamper too, so you'd be breaking the law :P

As for the guy who was clamped, you were 20 mins over your time! What would the point be in having a grace period, you know what time your parking expires, why not get back to your car in time?

Firstly!! Clamps are held on by locks and without key they would need to break the locks. Not easy, they would need one of them but cutter things. And its not so they cant get their vehicles.. its just payback and wie would see how they like it.

And for the grace period? Why? think about it. Just use some intelligence and think about it.. Apart from the obvious.. you get held up etc.. The most obvious i can think of is i get to machine ON TIME find i dont have any change so i have to go off and get some! i come back and im clamped? Would this piss you off??? I know it would me and the clamper would not listen to reason. How about an unlikely but possible reason like you are held up because of a bomb scare or something, you get back ready to go home and you are clamped. how about your wallet and phone is stolen.. you loose your ticket forget what time exactly but think its about 3:30, you find it was 3:20, you arive at 3:25 and you are clamped because there is NO grace period.. you have no wallet or phone so NO way to contact anyone short of someone letting you use a phone for free. need i go on?

by the way other councils DO have grace periods.. google it!! some say 10 mins others 15 mins.

Oh i should have thought about that pissing on the clamp idea... Damn if it ever happens again i will!!

ixoy

This sounds like a job for Angle Grinder Man!

His site is here - the guy goes around and frees clamped cars. He also provides information on how to free your own car and has a hotline. Unfoturnately he hasn't extended his vigilante ways here yet...

eth0_

Originally posted by Saruman
Firstly!! Clamps are held on by locks and without key they would need to break the locks. Not easy, they would need one of them but cutter things. And its not so they cant get their vehicles.. its just payback and wie would see how they like it.

Oh I know, but i'm sure they carry cutter things in case they have probs with the lock

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Thorbar
Just buy yourself a clamp and stick it on your car everytime you park.

Originally posted by John R
I am pretty sure that if you can remove the clamp without damaging it there is nothing they can legally do to you, so a masterclass in lockpicking would be a good idea.

Actually it sounds like a good business idea; charge €40 to remove clamps:cool:

both of these have already been done,

the one about clamping your own car, some guy in london did it. he bought his own clamp and clamped his own car in the same spot everyday for 10 years or something. was in the sun a few years back. they copped on one day and afair he was charged with impersonating a clamper or something equally rediculous. could be that you need a licence to clamp,

as for removing the clamp again it was in teh sun a year or 2 ago. a guy did it by driving forward slightly so the clamp was at an angle. then jacking up his car, and deflating the spare and taking it and clamp off all in one go. then put on his spare and drove off. he still had his reg taken and got his fine. think they tried to sue him for stealing the clamp too as he hadent returned it. dont know how that worked out.

whosurpaddy

btw whats the difference between being clamped and getting a parking fine/ticket? as in what do you do differantly for them to decide which to do or is it just pot luck as to whether a clamper or a traffic warden sees you?

Trebor

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
btw whats the difference between being clamped and getting a parking fine/ticket? as in what do you do differantly for them to decide which to do or is it just pot luck as to whether a clamper or a traffic warden sees you?

AFAIK you get a ticket for parking where your not suppose to and you get clamped for parking where your suppose to but you don't pay.

_sheep

Originally posted by Saruman
very happy at getting off work early and had a good day. That was shattered.

So you were planning on being even later back to the car ?


uuunnnlucky mate, you deserved it

Saruman

A parking ticked is WAY better.. for one thing you can drive off and pay at your leisure.. for another its only €19 so cheaper too

Oh i have a funny thought.. Say you get clamped... take the clamp off then take pictures of the clamp and hold it for ransom (in a funny way). send the pics via anonymous email to a news paper. then pass the clamp on to people like truck drivers or people who travel and get them to take pics with camera phones.. MMS them to you, upload them to the web and email them on. Pics taken from different parts of the country.. like some poeple do with Gnomes.. you know that Ad for vodafone I think that would be great :ninja:

calculon

Originally posted by Tommy Vercetti
seriously, we need to put our collective hatred together and come up with a plan to rid this city of those fools. I like the clamp-the-clampers idea - anyone know what they could do about it from a legal point of view?

here here.

but seriously, on a similar note to the galway case, about 3/4 weeks ago I saw a keg-delivery truck clamped on georges st.(at sosume). big argument ensued between delivery guys and clampers, deliveryguys obviously hadnt a credit card on them, clampers wouldnt take cash, or listen to anything sensible. at this stage lunchtime traffic was picking up, cars had to drive into the oncoming lane to get by. tbh it was pretty funny, till t deliveryguy#1 says "but you have just blocked the whole road" (you all know georges st, right? one lane each way, v. narrow. imagine a huge articulated lorry taking up one whole lane)

then almost on cue, an ambulance siren blares out further(behind the truck) up the road, but the truck is clamped and going nowhere, the cars behind the truck are backed up and the whole road is basically jammed, it took the ambulance a good few minutes to get by. im sure every second counts to an ambulances journey.

all the while the clampers are standing there like erections in a convent, listening to no-one, two mins after the ambulance passes they just go, leaving a lump of a truck to block the road.

that really p1ssed me off. something needs to be done to make these guys accountable to someone. sorry for the rant. that is all

John R

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
both of these have already been done,

the one about clamping your own car, some guy in london did it. he bought his own clamp and clamped his own car in the same spot everyday for 10 years or something. was in the sun a few years back. they copped on one day and afair he was charged with impersonating a clamper or something equally rediculous. could be that you need a licence to clamp,

as for removing the clamp again it was in teh sun a year or 2 ago. a guy did it by driving forward slightly so the clamp was at an angle. then jacking up his car, and deflating the spare and taking it and clamp off all in one go. then put on his spare and drove off. he still had his reg taken and got his fine. think they tried to sue him for stealing the clamp too as he hadent returned it. dont know how that worked out.

It was in the sun, it must be true.

Stuff

but if the truck wasnt parked where its not supposed to be, there wouldnt have been a problem. Not taking cash is a good idea, if clampers were going round with hundreds of € in their pockets, they would be a target for robbery.


So why the hatred towards clampers? People seem to have a problem with two types of authority mainly. 1, gards who are on traffic duty and 1, clampers. Both of which sre upholding laws that most people break and disagree with. So in the same light, should burglers and car thieves be justified in hating gards?

Yo Mamma

Only got clamped once..

Was parked overnight in a clearway or some sh1t

Anyway when I came down in the morning my car was gone !! I of course thought that it was stolen and called the police.......who then informed me that the lads had towed it around the corner and then Clamped it....

They couldn’t be arsed to tow it to the depot so they just stuck it around the corner..

I am grateful to those guys coz the fines for releasing your car from the depot are a hell of a lot more expensive than it is to get a clamp taken off...

Mac daddy

were is the Angle Grinder Man when you need him here he is

ChipZilla

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
they copped on one day and afair he was charged with impersonating a clamper or something equally rediculous. could be that you need a licence to clamp,

Charged with impersonating a clamper is bollocks. You can buy clamps in Halfords or any car accessory shop will order them for you for about 50 quid each. You'd need a special license to buy one if clampers were the only people allowed to use them.

http://www.ajmshopping.co.uk/more_details.asp?ItemCode=01061

Obviously you'd need to buy four to stop the f*ckers putting one on...

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by John R
It was in the sun, it must be true.

thats really constructive. great contribution to the discussion:rolleyes:

Turner

How about if you remove the clamp yourself by cutting through their lock and leaving the clamp on the road. Then purchase a new lock for about E5 and lock the clamp back up again leaving them the new key.

That way they couldnt sue for damaging their lock as a perfectly good lock remained with a key.

ballooba

Originally posted by eth0_
duh, they're clampers, they'd be able to remove the clamp fairly quickly :OP
I think you need a licence to operate as a clamper too, so you'd be breaking the law :P


If you walk up the grand canal in front of the Esat building, you'll almost always see really flash cars clamped there. I don't know if the clampers in that area have a 'flash b*stard' vendetta, or the flash b*stards think they can park where the hell they like.

As for the guy who was clamped, you were 20 mins over your time! What would the point be in having a grace period, you know what time your parking expires, why not get back to your car in time?

They always clamp the cars outside my gaff because I live in a posh area.

I just pay them with my platinum card and do one of those really snooty french laughs.

Actually I can't afford a car because of where I live.

sceptre

Originally posted by Saruman
like some poeple do with Gnomes.. you know that Ad for vodafone

(cough)
That sub-plot thing in Amelie[1]. Don't be giving the marketing droids credit for something they didn't think of.


[1]and it may be older than that for all I know

l3rian

clamp removal

http://www.autoinfozone.com/clamp2.html

the technique of letting air out and bending back looks good


i think a bar across the front face of the wheel openings bolted onto each side would be enought to clamp proof a car

robbie1876

I got clamped a few weeks ago in the evening at 22.28. My ticket expired at 21.24, so I sort of knew I'd be clamped when I got back. Interestingly, when I was talking to the biddy who was unclamping me, he said they had a directive that after 7pm the grace period was 1 hour after the ticket expires before they can clamp (obviously this is only in areas where you need a ticket right up to midnight). Now he could have been talking through his arse, but he seemed fairly sure, and even went so far as to ask me for my parking ticket so that he could check it wasn't within one hour that I was clamped.

Or maybe he just told me all this so that I would spread the word on boards.ie and more people would be clamped cos they thought they had an hour's grace in the evenings.

John R

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
thats really constructive. great contribution to the discussion:rolleyes:

The same could be said for using the sun as a source of facts.


http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI247Y1998.html

The law in relation to clamps only refers to a release fee, not a fine. Although it is theoretically possible that if you removed the clamp they could subsequently give evidence to the gardai that you had parked illegally so a fine/summons would be issued. In that case the fine would be the same as any other parking ticket for the same infringement and not the clamp release fee.

Saruman

People do have a problem with clampers but there is a very good reason and thats simply they dont answer to anyone.. they uphold ONE law but they break others by as we have seen.. CAUSING traffic chaos, obstructing an emergency vehicle, preventing a kid with meningitis symptoms from being taken to hospital etc etc.. That is why they are hated. And the fact they go out of their way to the point of stake outs! Yes they will sit in their van or whatever and wait for someone to get out of their car and not pay.

I have an example or another problem. Today i went back to Eccles street to pick up something i left there.. i was going in for about 30 seconds. i could not park outside so i parked in a side street across from the hospital. Now here is the thing there is NO pay unit on either side of the road, you need to walk about 5 mins around the corner and across the road to the nearest one. I did not want to be clamped so when i found the unit, i was going to pay till i realised my destination was so close i would be quicker going there than crossinf the busy road. I tempted fate by running to the place getting my thing and rushing back. i was about 5 mins at most. anyway IF i had got the ticket, gone back to the car to display it and the clampers had clamped me and called it in in that time, they would NOT unclamp me.. i know this because once they call into the system they can not unclamp themselves without a call from base even though i have a ticket but its 5 mins away to get to the machine.

A garda you can talk to and explain things... i dont have much of a problem with them. The only time they piss me off is bus lanes. I dont drive in them but if i come up to a place where i want to turn in left but there is a load of traffic between me and the point where i can legally turn into the bus lane, if i go into the bus lane a few mtrs before they can do me.. happened once, it was actually only about 3 or 4 mtrs before it becomes a left hand turn and he did me for it. If i ran a red light or was speeding fine.. but in the space he took to pull me over, give me a ticket for doing nothing that could in any way harm anyone or even obstruct a bus, some one is dealing drugs, being shot or any nuber of serious crimes and he is wasting his time with me? Its not like i wsa driving in the bus lane, i stayed out of it all the way along the N4 till i got to the palmerstown turn off and then i go in a few mtrs before im supposed to an im done for it.. kick in the teeth.. I saw plenty of cars actually drive in the bus lane only to get away with it.

Bus lanes irritate me, in some places they are a cause of chaos.. Chapelizod for one.