Posted on 02/19/2008 10:33:37 AM PST by LibWhacker
Furious drivers turned the tables on clampers when they trapped them in a car park for three hours until they released eight cars which had been clamped.
Residents on a complex of newly built flats woke up to find two men busily putting wheel clamps on any cars which did not have a parking permit.
Angry drivers phoned family and friends to drive over and block the entrance to the car park - so the clampers were stuck inside.
Vincent Martin 36, a taxi driver who lives in the exclusive complex in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: "I woke up at 8.30am and I heard a commotion going on so I threw some clothes on and went outside.
"I saw there were two men dressed in black in a van. They were really big, bald-headed guys and looked really intimidating.
"They had clamped about seven or eight cars and the drivers were out there shouting and crying.
"Luckily I'd got my permit and already put it on but some people were saying they had not received theirs.
"People missed work and hospital appointments."
Signs dotted around the car park warn residents they face an £80 parking ticket or £125 clamp release fee if they do not display a permit while in an allocated residents' space.
Mr Martin said he had got several letters warning that enforcement action was starting but some residents claimed they had not received them.
The problem appears to have started when Ringley, the flats' managing agents, sent out letters to the residents' old addresses, who were then unaware when the scheme would begin.
He added: "When I went off to work, there were cars blocking the entrance. They were determined not to let the clampers out.
"They were trapped there for three hours until they eventually took the wheel clamps off.
"The people certainly turned the tables on the clampers - it's one in the eye for the clampers."
Workers from London Parking Control clamped eight cars in an area for allocated residents' parking which is controlled by Ringley.
Some residents paid to have their cars released but others refused to hand over the £125 and drafted in help from their family and friends.
Five cars blockaded the arched entrance to the flats. After a tense five-hour stand-off, the management company backed down and called off the clampers.
A spokeswoman for the London Parking Control said: "We are still looking into the incident and liaising with our client, Ringley."
Lisa Stiles, 29, said she was forced to pay the fine to get her four-month-old daughter Ella to Southend Hospital for a check-up for eczema.
She said: "It was very upsetting to pay all that money. I'm on my own and can't afford it."
In a letter to some residents, Ringley said it decided to introduce the clamping measures because of "problems with car parking" on the estate, which was opened in May last year.
Scott O'Brien, 20, who was clamped said: "I'm disgusted. I was parked in my designated space and I didn't receive a letter or permit or anything.
A cheer went up among the parking protesters and the barrier of cars were moved to let the clampers out.
When mice roar.
If the policy is as outlined - clamping immediately for a first offense - it is unbelievably stupid.
It takes forever to get a car unclamped and while it sits there clamped, it takes up the parking space designated for permit holders.
It inconveniences everyone, guilty and innocent, except the clampers.
I’m sure the entire event is on govt video and they will suffer prosecution. Meanwhile terrorists continue their planning unabated.
I’m sure the entire event is on govt video and they will suffer prosecution. Meanwhile terrorists continue their planning unabated.
Parking ''enforcement'' is not something normal, well-adjusted people want to be involved with, in any aspect.
For a minute I thought they were talking about these guys:
The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (ECV) is a fraternal organization dedicated to the study and preservation of Western Heritage, in particular the history of the Mother Lode and gold mining regions of the area. There are chapters in California, Nevada and other Western states. Members call themselves “Clampers.”
The judge said five to ten-but I say double that again
I’m not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall ‘cause government’s to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D’you know that you can use it?
— Clash
It sounds more like a issue on private property with little government involovement. The name of the parking enforcers is a bit confusing. One wonders if the private entity contracted with the City to do the booting
Around here, they get towed and held for ransom.........
Reminds me of the scam the city of denver ran and may still run for all I know. They had meters all over down town. However the meters were not calibrated so the parking people knew which ones were not and waited and started writing the ticket a few minutes before knowing that it would click to a violation 5 minutes early. Then if you wanted to contest the $25 ticket you had to wait 2-3 hours to talk to a referee. They had no motivation to make sure you got served quickly so that you would give up and they kept their $25 bucks. The joke was that dept. of weights and measures never authenticated their meters even though they were measuring devices just like scales and gas pumps.
In the US a SWAT team would have been called.
If that had happened in the US, the SWAT team would have showed up ten minutes into the standoff and started cracking heads and shooting dogs.
I assume that the Brits have laws against unlawful detention. If so, then those who 'detained' these 'clampers' are guilty of that crime.
Someone should find a way to bust the clamp. pick the lock, then just destroy the clamp and throw it in the trash.
125 pounds for a fine? who do these Thieving Rats think they are?
thats “Mafia” extortion!
when they loose about a hundred clamps, maybe they will get the message.
That's preferable from the point of view of the innocent bystander.
If I were paying for a permit and I came home to find that all the spaces were taken by clamped cars, I'd be pretty irate.
Clamp on, clamp off... the Clamper!
An old college chum of mine was able to do this. He was studying for an ME degree then. He’s a design engineer now. The clamp has likewise been redesigned.
Disagreee. The clampers themselves were in no way restrained, they just could not get their truck/van out. due to cars improperly parked on private property.
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