Ruthless Money Grabbing Bullies.


I hate clampers.

Apparently, I'm blocking access here.

My car has been clamped twice in the past five weeks - on both occasions I have been unfairly treated, talked down to, patronised and financially penalised. Their policies are an adult version of bullying and they are overtly abusing their power to exploit every nook and cranny to financially extort you. It is no secret that parking enforcement officers are paid on commission and although I have no doubt their job is difficult, their attitude stinks. From the top down.

Their appeals procedure are archaic and time-consuming, making it difficult and arduous for the car owner to pursue, hoping that the vast majority of people drop their appeal, chalking it down to experience once the frustrations and anger disappate. According to a report from The Irish Times in 2010, 61,000 people had their vehicles clamped, with only 20% appealing the decision.

Over the white line by a foot.

www.irishtimes.com/news/clamping-up-but-more-motorists-appeal-1.674225?mode=amp

Can you imagine your child coming home from school telling you that their lunch money had been taken from them because they walked down the hallway the wrong way?

They could get their money back, only after they appealed directly to the extorter. After a 21 day waiting period, you might get a response and if you didn’t get a favourable reply, you could then take it to the headmaster (Independent Ombudsman), who could then take up to 60 days to then make another decision. All the while the child is out of pocket, frustrated and unsure as to what has happened and this process is deemed legal.

I fought both clamping claims – and won on moral, logistical and practical grounds. But it took a lot of persistence, research, and personal restraint to keep going.

Appeal confirmation.

When I was clamped the second time, the research I had done only weeks previously rolled off my tongue. I was unclamped within minutes and knew I had the law on my side. I was prepared to ring the Gardai if I didn’t get a positive reply to my request for a supervisor.

My first clamping was borderline 50/50 whether I was right or wrong. Initially, I thought I’d have to suck it up and accept the punishment of a E125 fine. I had parked one foot over a white line and was accused of“obstructing access.” The parking space had both old yellow and newer white lines, giving the parking enforcement officer the opportunity to nab an easy target.

With bubbling vexation in my veins, I looked up the laws of parking companies had to adhere to. They take photographs of the offence, as I did. When they came to remove it, the officer removing it did not identify himself. He didn’t have an ID or hi-viz jacket on. He didn’t explain what the offence was. I didn’t expect an apology and nor did I get one. Not only that but the penalty notice did not have a staff number of the officer who placed the clamp on my car.

Knowing that immoderate abuse of parking enforcement was commercially being used, I pushed back. I used my contacts and friends. I used their ridiculous template of appeal, which marginally allows you about twice the character use than that of Twitter. Again, this restricts your use of language to explain the circumstances of the clamp. I had to learn to zip my photograph files just so I could attach my photos.

The hoops you must jump through.

Any friend I asked told me to fight the first clamp, once they saw the pictures. So I submitted my appeal and waited. They have to reply within 21 days, to inform you if whether the clamp was either legitimate, illegitimate or within their rights to clamp but they STILL return the money.

On the 22nd day, I was prepared to email the clamping company back and tear them asunder, but then I checked the postbox. I was refunded a cheque for E125, with the letter even stating that their operations team on the night may have been “over-zealous” in enforcing the rules of parking within that zone.

Then to my more recent clamp on a Sunday morning, outside a children’s indoor play centre, where my son and many of his crèche friends were celebrating a fourth birthday party. My son and I had paid our fee before entering the establishment, and I had affixed the payment notice to the middle of the passenger side window. In my son’s haste to get inside to the party, I hadn’t spotted that I had stuck it to the inside, albeit upside-down – but still clearly visible.

So when we see the bright yellow triangle fastened to the wheel outside the drivers’ door, my heart sank. I started to doubt if I had paid the fee (as we’re regular visitors to this centre), I then remembered my son removing the ticket from the machine at 11am that morning. It clearly stated that we had paid up until 1.30pm, and it was 1.05pm at the time.

Check out my angry head in the reflection!

Getting a friend to look after my son for a few moments, I made the call. I really pity the people who work the phone-lines at clamping institutions as they probably get all manner of verbal abuse and attitude down the line. I was restrained but firm, stating facts, yet the lady on the far end of the line kept quoting the company line which states that “once a vehicle is clamped, the Parking Enforcement Officer is NOT empowered to remove the clamp until full payment is made to protect and ensure their integrity.”

I stated that my paid fee was affixed to the window, clearly visible. She said that looking at the photos taken by the Officer, it wasn’t. Then she said that the notice of payment has to be placed on the dashboard – which is utter nonsense. I called her out on that stating that it doesn’t say that in the Vehicle Clamping Act 2017, nor did it state it on their payment machines or in the signage. I was lucky that I knew my stuff from previous experience, but how many people have been hoodwinked with this type of mistruth before?

Sensing blood, I then made another valid argument. If she was basing her entire argument on the actions of one officer and his photographs (which didn’t show the passenger side window), I asked was he right to clamp if a ticket was clearly visible?

Was he doing his job correctly? How could she be one hundred percent sure if he was doing his job if he couldn’t have been bothered walking around the car? I then offered to send her the picture by email directly to prove my point. Before hanging up, I finished stating that the clamp was placed on my car illegitimately and that I would not be paying a release fee for something not of my own making. I then asked that a supervisor call me back and if he/she didn’t, I would be calling the Gardai.

The best part of waiting for the officer to return was reading the penalty notice. It stated that I had “failed to display a valid pay and display ticket.”

Car parked exactly as I was once. No clamp this time.

Then the reason why the enforcement officer hadn’t seen the ticket became blatantly obvious. He argued his point from the driver’s seat of his car to me, still sitting in his vehicle with his engine running. He said there was no ticket visible when he inspected the vehicle. I pointedly asked if he had bothered to look around to the passenger side and he admitted he hadn’t. His phone then rang to tell him to remove the clamp and to take a photo of the passenger side window.

He then took almost five seconds to extricate himself from his own van. The man had multiple years of investment in his stomach. It is my view that he took his photos without getting out of his own van to inspect my car thoroughly. The clamp was removed and the statement on the notice proved that clamps CAN be removed without payment.

So my advice to you is to fight. Appeal against a clamp if you feel you’ve been unfairly treated, talked down to, felt uncomfortable with a clamper’s aggressive behaviour or if you have a valid reason like I did, be firm but fair. I know that sounds difficult, but you must persist. Get informed about your rights. Check out The Clamping Act too.

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/vehicle-clamping/

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/traffic_and_parking/parking_fines_and_vehicle_clamping.html

According to two reports from www.thejournal.ie, we’re fighting back and winning. Nearly two thousand appeals were lodged last year in 2018 (1991), with 1070 winning their appeal against the clamping companies. In other words, you’ve more than a 50% chance of winning your case.

www.thejournal.ie/clamping-nta-3788234-Jan2018/

www.thejournal.ie/nta-clamping-appeals-4428415-Jan2019/

My clamps from this year show a 100% appeal win. The year is young yet though.