Here's a link that's good for a chuckle. Not sure just how serious the guy is. Or how long this post will last!
www.anglegrinderman.com/
(Thanks to www.clubarnage.com forum for the link)
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HJ had an item in his column on Saturday in which it was explained, not totally clearly, how to cut off your tyre on a clamped wheel, get the clamp off without damaging it ie legally, and drive away on your spare wheel. The thinking behind this was that, on many cars, the cost of a new tyre is less than the charge for getting unclamped.
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Would it be legal to carry a spare clamp in your boot so you can cut off one you are clamped with then hand them a new one so technically they have not suffered a loss? Save you having to stick on the spare wheel, especially if it is a space saver.
teabelly
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What about carrying and fitting 4 cheap clamps when you're in a 'dodgy' area. Presumably then the real clampers would be committing an offence if they tried to remove yours to fit theirs.
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To remove the clamp without damaging it you need to slice the rear sidewall of the tyre right around the circumference of the tyre.
You then pull the clamp over the now flat & floppy tyre and the tyre simply folds over as you pull the clamp.
Put your spare tyre on and drive away.
Alternatively - like me - have a car so low that there is no physical way to get the clamp on without damaging either the wheel or wheel arches.
They have tried and have caused damage in the past. I have also caught them jacking the car up to get the tyre to lower on suspension travel just to fit the clamp.
I think my threat of me getting in the car an driving off with their clamper's legs under the car didn't worry them much, until I unlocked the car, started the engine and revved the engine a little!
Haven't had any sign of attempted clamping in two years now!
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Why destroy the tyre? Simply let all the air out.
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I was wondering that, one of my mam's friends simply lets the air out and then removes the clamp...
Blue
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Never been clamped but do you really need an angle grinder? Would not a good pair of bolt croppers do the trick?
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The steel used for the padlock hasp is very hard, as hard as a saw blade, so it can't be sawn. Most decent padlocks don't allow enough space to get a bolt-cropper onto the hasp, so that usually won't work either. A grinder will cut through most materials.
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Why destroy the tyre? Simply let all the air out.
>>
Always provided the clamp does not obstruct your access to the valve.
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When I was clamped in Manchester (see previous page or 2 ) the clamp was absolutely solid at the bottom with a padlock shackle that must have been 12mm diameter. Half an inch, in old money.
That would have taken some serious sawing.
The clamp itself had 2 triangular blocks at the base, 1 in front of the tyre and 1 behind. The top was a piece of pressed steel and I considered putting my hands on this steel, above the wheel and pulling it up into the wing area, then pulling the whole clamp away from the car.
In central manchester with police, wardens and folks passing I decided against it though. Up a deserted side street it would have been a much different story.
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Here's a good one, how about parking in a proper car park and paying for the right amount of time?
I see so little support for individuals and businesses who own land that the general public seems to feel at liberty to park all over.
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With respect Joe, the problems don't seem to lie with properly screened off and sign posted private land (obviously there are occasions).
No. More often it's (deliberately?) ambiguous areas where clamp crews lie in wait etc.
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Aha.
What is the right amount of time?
You go out into a city and park on a meter. You think you're going to be 2hrs but you trip up and casualty keeps you for 3 hrs longer. Towed away. Fair enough? NO.
Exaggeration? OK.
You go to a meeting that overruns by 16 mins. Towed away or just clamped, if you're lucky. Fair?
You pay for 2 hrs and come back 6 mins late. Ticket and fine. Fair?
I think you see where I'm going. You would end up paying for 6 hours meter time and using 2. Oh no, the limit on the meters is 2hrs only. Fair?
Catch 22,23,24,25,29.......
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Strclty Sean, yes, fair, all of 'em. You know the restriction and wilfully (or not) broke it. You've committed an offence, why should being punished be unfair?
In another thread you aren't prepared to tolerate Alastair Stewart on the TV because of his conviction, and you ask what next? Murderers etc?
With the logic above, maybe if there were extenuating circumstances to the murder it'd be OK?
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Ok, tell me about crime passionelle.
You know, where she axes you. It's time of the month. You didn't notice her best dress....
It's the same logic, I think. Why put up with A.S? He truly was convicted twice before of driving while sloshed, yet was the most supercilious xxxx (I promised MarkRLBS I wouldn't) )
If you do 31mph in a 30 limit, should you be done?
Went through amber light...
If you're 6 mins late, having paid for 120 mins parking....?
In my case, I come from Leeds. We're all tight Yorkshiremen. I can't remember when I last paid for parking here, but Manchester did me on a meter and towed me away. I sued, they paid, I didn't murder their representative at the Hearing.... close loop.
Love this forum. Lots of bright people here, and me.
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It\'s the same logic, I think. Why put up with A.S? He truly was convicted twice before of driving while sloshed, yet was >> the most supercilious xxxx (I promised MarkRLBS I wouldn\'t) )
Excuse me Sean who is this A.S. you are referring to?
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Excuse me Sean who is this A.S. you are referring to?
If Sean is true to his word, he left us for pastures new a little while ago[1]. I can only think he was refering to Armitage Shanks, a bit further up this thread.
[1]
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=15715&...e
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I previously wrote:-
I can only think he was refering to Armitage Shanks, a bit further up this thread.
I have been informed by email that Sean was more than likely refering to Alistair Stewart, not Armitage Shanks. Please accept my sincere apologies for this error.
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Not sure how long he'll last, either, with his phone number advertised, but good luck to him anyway! You can be sure that at least some of the clamps he deals with will be illegal...
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Joe,
Let me explain the facts of life to you. Someone parks illegally on your piece of land, what harm are they actually doing? Probably none. Are they inconvieniencing you? Probably. Whats that worth to you £5/£10? So what do you do? You do a deal with some bunch of thugs to charge £150+. You have NO hope of actually recovering this in a court of law because its obviously outrageous so what do you do, impound the vehicle.
In other situations this is called demanding money with menaces.
Deaths too good for them.
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I just love the logic behind clamping - your car is parked where it shouldn't be, or where it is an obstruction, so what do they do? They immobilise it! I wonder who thought of that..?
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Agree! As any behavioral psychologist would tell you clamping on the first level is simply a juvenile and spiteful response by the clamper to the clampee. It is a contradiction in the terms of that to which it is addressed. Simple logic cannot support an argument which says that a solution to a perceived problem of obstruction is simply an extension of the same problem by force. IN other words it makes no sense to prevent someone moving from somewhere you didn't want him to be in the first place, and is self-negating in that by clamping a vehicle it is ipso facto there can never have been an obstruction in the first place.
The only logical conclusion an intelligent person can draw is that achieving your enforced stay is actually the true objective of clamping you, and has nothing to do with deterrence. On the second level therefore, at best it can be just another revenue generating scam by hoodlums masquerading the cloak of some cock-eyed and dubious presumed authority, or at worst criminal extortion by effectively kidnapping your property and holding it for ransom.
I say more power to the Angle Grinder Man. There are not enough Robin Hoods in this world.
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Heard on the radio this morning about some bloke dressed up as a superhero, releasing clamped cars with the aid of an angle grinder - he's apparently already "freed" 12 cars. Unsuprisingly, he calls himself "Anglegrinderman".
www.anglegrinderman.co.uk
Chad.
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Nice to know that the mainstream news (?) has caught up!
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=14...5
(Thanks JBJ. merged with previous thread.) DD
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A friend of mine had her car towed and the towing company demanded something in the region of 300 pounds plus another 100 for each day it was in the pound. They also said that if she hadn't paid within a week they would sell the car to recoup their losses. Losses Ha! At what point does this become car theft?
Anyway, my question is this. If I wanted to scrap an old worthless banger (or several over a period of a few weeks), could I just park it in a towaway zone? They tow away the car and send me a huge bill threatening to sell the car. I say, "fine, sell the car". Job done. Do they have any legal right to demand the money from me? They sound like a bunch of illegal cowboys - what kind of claim would they have against me?
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An uncle of mine has an office in Manchestr City Centre with loads of space. During the day, they park their own cars. At night, they let patrons of the neighbouring pubs park there for no charge. Not worth the effort. The pubs keep an eye on the ofice at night. Just good neighbours. Clampers approached them to put their board up. We used to have them but one day they clamped all our cars. We realised only one person wins in clamping...and he owns the clamp
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My cosuin was I belive the 1st person in the country to be prosecuted for smashing a wheel clamp.
IIRC he got a £400 fine but was let off further fines because he was being encouraged by some nearby builders who lent him a plank of wood so that he could smash it somehow
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When I was 18, I was clamped on a private housing estate,
I was at work on the edge of this estate in a large house that had been split into offices.
I caught the bus home, and returned with my tools, however, the hacksaw wouldn't even get a purchase on the padlock.
Next, I jacked the car up, put full lock on, and managed to rotate the wheel within the clamp (now that the weight was not on the wheel), I got my fingers behind the shield, and unscrewed the valve cap, and deflated the tyre.
Next, I prised the tyre each way to no avail, I turned the steering one way and another and levered with the wheelbrace, close, but no cigar, then I opened the bonnet, took out the washer bottle, and poured the fluid all over the tyre, viola, it sliped out like an eel.
Put the spare wheel on, put wheel and clamp in the boot, and went home.
The next day, I parked a mile away from work.
The clamper man (who worked for the private estate as a sort of caretaker) came to my workplace, I made him wait ages in reception until I came down, then he asked for his clamp back, I said, OK, I'll get my car keys, another 15 mins, I came back down and walked to my car a mile away with the man in toe. Got the clamp out the boot, put it on the floor, and walked off.
He struggled like hell, must have weighed 17Kg and it was an awkward shape, he was swapping hands every few steps and leaning over sideways humping it along!
Great fun..
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Oh dear - the link doesn't work any more. Perhaps the appearance on Radio 4 was the wrong sort of publicity. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted and I take my hat off to the guy for sheer chutzpah!
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I heard that his web site was so overwhelemed after the address was given out it crashed and is in the process or rebuilding.
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That's encouraging. I thought that perhaps he'd been nobbled!
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He may well be, due to his "WHOIS" registration. See WWW.NTK.NET which is updated today.
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For what its worth, clamping is officially illegal in Scotland. Not sure what law exactly it breaks though!
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About 7 or 8 years ago I had a car parking space around the corner from my office in town. One of those spaces that is a car wide and a car length long. The space was very clearly marked private. I arrived back one afternoon to find a car parked in my space. I waited nearly an hour before I eventually parked in the nearby multi story - I can tell you I was not happy. Before I left I put the chain across the parking bay so the car couldn't get out and left a note on the window.
About half an hour or so later a police officer came to reception and told me to let the car out. Note that the driver did not come to me first - she went straight to the police.
I said I would let her out if she reimbursed my car parking costs. Believe it or not the officer became very aggressive and threatened to arrest me. I don't scare easily so I told him to carry on but the car would stay until she paid up. I also complained to the police officer that she was trespassing on my private land and I wanted her car booked. He wouldn't do that because it was on private land and there was nothing he could do about it.
She eventually paid but virtually threw the money at me calling me a crook and all the names under the sun. The bit I couldn't understand was why the police officer took the womens side without any question and was so aggressive towards me.
Anyway, whenever I see a story about some poor person bleating on about having to cough up dosh to get their cars unclamped I have found it just a tiny bit more difficult to have any sympathy for them.
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