Blow Dog, a tad out of order don't you think? Surely you should borrow the shotgun

Alex, I'm sure there was a similar thread to this many moons ago, give the search a go, if you have'nt already

Cheers

Justin

 

I can't stand private clamping firms. They are legal criminals and should be banned.
They deserve as much grief as they get

cem

 

Railtrack will have outsourced the parking arrangements at their station carpark to one of these gangs, who will probably be on some sort of incentive or commission basis. Telling the station staff will not influence your chances of not getting a ticket - once Railtrack have signed the contract, it's totally out of their hands. You could maybe have tried phoning the clamping company at the time, but as a cynic I'd say that was just likely to alert them to the fact that you'd parked the car in the car park too long.
Check they didn't damage your mate's wing or wheel-arch as they dragged the chain around his wheel. (bitter experience)

 

A friend of mine got clamped at guildford station last night, now in short the car had broken down, just managed to get it to the station, off the main road.

Put a note under the windscreen wiper, and looked to see if anyone was in the station at the time, and for what ever reason there was no one in the ticket office (coffee break no doubt).

So, I drive my friend back to Aldershot to get their RAC membership details, call the RAC. At this point the car had been there for about 1.5 hours in a 20 min zone.

Went back to the car to find it clamped, shortly after the RAC guys turned up. Meantime spoke to the clampers who said he would be back over in 30 mins to release the car, but we would have to pay as in short they dont believe the car was broken.

Clamper turned up 40 mins later as the RAC guys were finishing up, the car had a faulty oil pump, they managed to do a temporary repair. Clamper still addimant (sp!) that we were parked illegally, blah blah, got to pay despite RAC being there at the time and stating the problem with the car...

Now is it me or is this completely unreasonable... No where did it state you must inform the station staff if you have broken down, surely we took all action we could ??

Where do we stand, do these £$%^ get away with this??

What format letter should I get knocked up? Solicitor's letter?? the fine was £50, and we have the receipt for the clamping and the receipt for the RAC work done...

Please help!

Alex

 

i would take a shotgun and blow his head off.

 

And there speaks the voice of reason - top man !

Blow Dog for Prime Minister - no more criminals therefore NO MORE CRIME !

Chris.

 

Thanks guys...

I was wondering how much and recommendations on getting a solicitor to write the letter?

Cheers, Alex

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Blow Dog:
<B>i would take a shotgun and blow his head off.[/quote]


LOL

Blowdog
Which of my shotguns do you want to borrow mate???

(excellent to see you are taking the right approach as my Muppet leader )

 

Probably cost more than £50 to get a solicitor to right a letter though..
try the small claims court?

 

The clampers are the work of the Devil and should be exorcised.

Or a stake through thier hearts if they cast no shadow.

F
ps this is not to be taken too literally or something bad may happen.

 

Guys,

I know how you feel about this from experiance, This is how I dealt with the matter when I was clamped after 5 min of parking, I did not see the really clear sign, the norm in most cases. The release of the clamp was £80.no bloody way was I going to pay the bum bandit motherless scum that sum of money.

I walked down the high street found a hardware store and spent £20 on a good saw to cut metal, 20mins later got the clamp off!!! that saw now has a special place in my wheel well..Not bad hey? 20 mins work cost me £20 instead of £80. I would recommend buy some extra saw bits just in case. You could also do this infront of them, watch them take it of quick, should they start any trouble with you or damage your car they will get nicked, but there is no rules or notices saying you have to pay for the damage of the clamp. On my other car the wheels sit well under the arch " try clamping that you motherless monkey cracks"!

See yeah

TC

[This message has been edited by TopCat (edited 14 February 2001).]

 

Go on borrow the shotgun from Dave.
You know you want to

The shotgun cartridges are surely cheaper than a letter from the solicitor

 

Clampers.....cut their nads off with a rusty
blade.

 

TAKE SIGN DOWN ,FIRST
No sign ...They can't clamp you.

 

TC, I think there is a law about cutting the clamp off, it's called criminal damage, you damaging someone elses property, if they where there, they would call the police and you'd get nicked! Sorry M8.

 

If you catch 'em in the act, stick _your_ disklok on _their_ vehicle, and watch them sweat! It's been done before!

As for "criminal damage", i'd rather pay for the five pounds worth of padlock or a chain-link, than the extortionate "fine". Thats if they can be bothered to chase things up!

Seems like a pair of bolt-croppers (or a Halfords saw) should be standard equipment).

mb

 

My shotgun is loaded and ready.....

I got clamped at UCI Cinema Hatfield once. Attendent said £50 and 2 hour wait. Screw that I thought. So I wiggled the clamp fowards enough to get socket and bar on the nuts, took the nuts of, took the wheel off with the clamp. Let the tyre down, removed the clamp from the wheel, put the spare on and placed the clamp on top of the attendents hut on my way out - Sorted.

Revenge is a dish best served without paying

David

 

before you get into shotgun territory try the following

Right now Railtrack are in the poo with the general public and the "Gentlemen (sic) of the Press" First call up the Station Manager or whatever they call it of the station concerned, then say:-

"I was clamped whilst broken at your station yesterday, do you have the authority to refund me the clamping fee?" - Don't get into long explanations at this stage just say that.

If the answer is yes then talk to him, if the answer is no, ask for his boss's number. Repeat this until you are speaking to someone who DOES have the authority to refund you.

Explain the situation calmly and politley (from general retail experiance you stand a much better chance of getting what you want if you don't fly off the handle) Make sure you mention that the RAC were called out and the clampers met the guy doing the work.

IN 95% of cases this should work and a refund will be winging its way to you. If it doesn't, mention, in no particular order Local MP, you're season ticket, and your good friend John Doe the Editor of the Bumpkin Advertiser. For £50.00 they don't want the hassle. At every stage you should make sure you get their names, really scares them when you say "So you Dave Steel, Manager of Bumpkin Station are saying that when one of your cusomers breaks down on your premises and does their best to get the car moved as soon as possible, they have to pay you £50.00, and I can quote you on that?"

Really rattles their cages.

Be very surprised if that didn't work


For future reference the RAC don't actually need your membership card, would save a lot of hassle

 

Paul W - thanks for the info, I will give it a go...

Cheers for the other comments, very entertaining

 

PS. If it had not been for the CCTV in operation, i'd of &lt;use your imagination&gt;..

The recovery guy offered to 'help'

 

I am with Blowdog on this one.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>the car had a faulty oil pump, they managed to do a temporary repair<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The invoice from the garage doing the permanent repair should also help to prove that there was a genuine fault at the time with the car.

David

 

Learn to park

 

Whatever you do, don't do this...

When he bends down to take the clamp off lamp him. Remove the clamp and his takings and go.

 

Thanks again.. I suspect we may forget it, as the time to chase it would cost more than the fine!

Arron - PMT week still?

 

I suppose you would need a tungsten carbide blade? a hacksaw wouldn't do it surely?

I guess a B&Q jigsaw and a transformer for your cigarette lighter would only cost 40 quid or so.

+ Could they get you for criminal damages though?
+ I suppose you could offer to pay for the padlock?

I know that in scotland - private clamping firms are outlawed from charging a fine.

rapid descent
my99 sport dbm 5dr

 

Just give him a rubber cheque. Or cancell the cheque after giving it to him. Then you get to drive away. Get a letter from the RAC just in case they take it further

 

CHEQUE ?????

They cant be that stupid....

Credit card is the norm
As for using "Electric Jigsaw". Bit dangerous me thinks