Your first sentence might cover just the redeeming feature they chose it for... a somewhat anonymous car that people wouldn't really suspect as being a police vehicle.
Wheel clampers
- Thread starter Burnsy2023
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Your first sentence might cover just the redeeming feature they chose it for... a somewhat anonymous car that people wouldn't really suspect as being a police vehicle.
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Not quite. If you can remove the clamp without damage then that's fine, but if you wilfully damage it, then you're liable for a criminal offence.
Yes but there are very many other cars which could be used for this.
A 206;
Isnt the most reliable car.
Isnt the largest car for putting people into the back of or carrying things.
Isnt very fast.
Doesnt have the best handling.
If you were using it undercover, 2 massive blokes shoved in the front of it are going to be fairly obvious if you look in!
I really cant see why you would use one, and then why one would be sent to a minor disturbance at a pub, if it was that important surely it would be doing something else.
This is what I don't understand. I didn't ask them to put it there so surely it's fair game?
It's like me chucking a pot of paint over someone's car, and when they clean it off, charging them for it.
How are clampers allowed to even operate anyway? Last I checked, extortion is an offence?
If they have proof that it was in fact you who damaged the clamp
Besides easiest way to remove the lock is to have a compressed air can and a hammer with you ... hold the can upside down, spray on the lock to freeze it, then hit it with a hammer. Job done.
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THe vehicle is probably only used to see people to make enquires, so the last 3 things are moot. As for reliability, if it was cheap, then there's more money to pay for repairs.
In that case, why use an unmarked car, whats wrong with a normal Astra panda car?
More faults means more time spent off the beat while the car is repaired.
All im saying is that there is probably more to the story than meets the eye.
Soldato
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As I understand it if they are contracted to local government then parking incorrectly is a legal matter. If they are contracted by your local supermarket etc, then it would be a civil matter and they'd need to prove that you understood that you were parked incorrectly so that the clamp is justified? if they can't (where I live I have never seen one of these car park monitors use a camera) then you'd surely be justified in removing the offending item?
Have you actually tried that? It seems highly unlikely.
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Because lights and sirens cost money.
Using unmarked city cars is very common. What are you suggesting?
It works on normal padlocks you can get over the counter at any hardware store ... so unless the clampers use some special higher quality materials it would work on their chains and locks too.
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Perhaps she stopped off on her way home for dinner and parked in the wrong bay and was clamped.
Then the media have whipped it up into something its completely not.
Since I wasnt there, and neither were you can only speculate.
Oh and a bit of google gives more details.
So there was no rush, no requirement to park in the wrong space or anything.
No sympathy.
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Perhaps she stopped off on her way home for dinner and parked in the wrong bay and was clamped.
Then the media have whipped it up into something its completely not.
Since I wasnt there, and neither were you can only speculate.
Google reveals more;
No emergency, no rush, why the requirement to park closer.
No sympathy, she should have to pay up the fine.
Nobody should ever have to pay a clamping fine, on the grounds it's quite simply extortion.
How about I come around and erect signs that if you step outside your front door I get to kick you in the shins? Am I then allowed to do it?
How about I come around and erect signs that if you step outside your front door I get to kick you in the shins? Am I then allowed to do it?
everyone moans about police and clampers, but without them, we'd live in chaos
How is clamping avoiding chaos? If the car is parked so as to cause an obstruction it should be towed away, clamping is just a means to force people to give you money.
If they had any legal right to take your money like this they'd just take your reg plate and give you a fine in the post.
IIRC police vehicles (including unmarked ones) have various exemptions from certain things including speeding and parking restrictions that can be applied when on duty/in the course of their work.
Once the clampers were told it was an official police vehicle they should have unclamped it ASAP, as the fact it was unmarked probably has very little bearing on situation in the eyes of the law once they were informed it was an official vehicle (same as unmarked CID/traffic cars may look pretty normal).
As they didn't the police probably got authority to get it back on the road using any means practical, and I don't think the police can be done for criminal damage when they are acting in a manner required to fulfil their duties.
At least that's how I understand it.
Basically the clampers are probably going to end up paying out for any costs the police incurred due to the clamping of the vehicle, and possibly a little bit more (as the police did inform them they had clamped an official vehicle and gave them the chance to unclamp it, it moved from an honest mistake to willfully impeding the police which I think is covered as a generic offence).
