Got clamped earlier - surely this isn't legal...

That's disgraceful - but you did the right thing - you made it so it was clean, obvious who was in the wrong and as a result it can be easily sorted :) You didn't exacerbate the situation and end up with yourself in jail or being fined even more.

I hope you get a full refund and then some! :)
 
If you can get the clamp off the car without damaging it then I'm sure nothing can be done. Just make sure you take pictures of the clamp before and after to cover yourself. Oh and there is no way I would have paid the guy, I would have been straight on the phone to the police, after taking a picture of said clamper blocking me in, to report a theft in progress.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Why do I get the impression there might be more to this story than we know...
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The only reason i can justify the Odeon contracting out clampers is because it is a very common place where boy racers hang around.
99% of them cause no trouble. They park up (mostly in a corner) and just chill out.
There are the odd chav that turns up and drives like a **** but thats about it.

Seeing as the Odeon complex (including car park) is likely to be privately owned what extra powers do they have over council clampers ?
 
xcessive said:
Did you do anything about it?
If so, who did you contact and did you get any of the money back ?
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I was parked in an Argos Delivery Bay, and had permission to do so by somebody from Argos. I left a note detailing this, and walked through the back door into the store, when somebody shouted to say my car was being clamped.

They totally ignored the note, ignored the fact it was for the owners for the delivery bay I was working, and the Argos person who gave me permission decided to forget they had.

£80 fine, and I got there as they were getting the clamp out of their white van, which was also blocking me in. Just like you they were aggresive and one stood between me and my car stopping me from doing anything.

I didn't do anything about it, and just claimed it back on my company expenses.

Sorry that doesn't really help you. But I think complaining to Odeon Head Office is your best chance of success.
 
I would have told him to remove it, and if he didn't remove it, call the police.

Simple as, he can't hold you to hostage like that.
 
Say to the guy 'nope not paying you!', walk home or call a mate for a lift. Go to hardware store and buy an angle grinder or massive bolt croppers for less than £120 cut the clamp off and leave it in the car park space.

Or buy a clamp yourself and leave it in the car, as he's clamping you clamp him and charge the same release fee.

Best bet is bad publicity, get your local paper involved tell them they have prejudged you and just assumed your a chav, bit like taking arabs of planes at gun point just cause they look like they are dodgy.

:D

Fire..
 
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Shoseki said:
I would have told him to remove it, and if he didn't remove it, call the police.

Simple as, he can't hold you to hostage like that.
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Do you really think they would say "oh sorry sir, please forgive me" and quickly remove it and go back into the shadows if you said that?


The only way you can get through to scum like this is if you get out your car, and move him away by force.
 
I work for Odeon, but the best thing to do is speak to the manager at the cinema.

Chances are if its a large complex (with say a bowling alley etc as well) another company runs the site and provides the parking facilities. At least the manager of the cinema should be able to put you in touch with them.

Terrible thing to happen though...it seems to be a real grey area from a legal point of view.
 
The best thing here, is that if the police turn up they choose an unmarked car, so hopefully this cowboy would then be caught in the act. Next time only park in a marked bay instead of whooing the hunnys with your car ;)
 
Did your phone have video recording or a camera? I'd have been taping the whole thing and taking photographs clearly showing his van blocking you in etc etc...then a quick phone call to 999 saying you've been threatened by said clamping person and some security guards. But I wouldn't have let them touch my car in the first place....they can't actually move you physically out of the way either because it then becomes assault.
 
OK here's what I would do. I've done this successfully with Lex Auto and Shell before so you may stand a chance of success. You need to shame them into helping you and the only way you do that is to aim big with a complaint.

I've done some digging around and the CEO of Odeon is Rupert Gavin. Their head office number is 020 7321 0404

But let's not stop there. Odeon are actually owned by an investment firm called Tarra Firma and their CEO is a gentlemen called Guy Hands and their head office number is 020 7015 9500

Neither of these people want adverse publicity from the dodgy contractors they are employing. So we're going to play on that.

Firstly phone up each of the numbers and ask for the PA of the gentlemen in question. Do not ask for the CEO because you'll be brushed aside. Ask for their PA and you stand a chance of getting through. When through to the PA or secretarial deprtament, explain you're John calling from Odeon and you've got a fax for Guy but you've misplaced his fax number. Could the PA please give it to you? Same for Rupert, but explain you're John from Terra Firma and you've misplaced the fax number for Rupert. Do it at 17:30 and explain you need to send it through before the close of business. Secretarial staff tend to not get hung up about giving out fax numbers and doing it at the end of the day when they just want to get home will yield better results.

Next up construct a well written letter explaining your outrage and asking what they are going to do about it. Fax it for the attention of the CEO of the apporpiate organisation and ensure you put in bold "cc: BBC watchdog". Whether you actually send a copy to BBC watchdog is up to you.

If you're lucky then chances are some secretary will pick it up, freak out, all hell will break loose and these people will get someone to sort it fast. They don't want investigative journalists all over their business.
 
probedb said:
they can't actually move you physically out of the way either because it then becomes assault.
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But what if they are blocking you...? Same applies.


As for getting the clamp off without causing damage, would deflating the tyre help at all? (never been clamped, don't know the mechanism).
After they clamp you, when does the tow truck arrive? Do they give you a certain period of time, or is it as soon as they can get it there?
 
Why wouldn't the government make clamping illegal? It seems to be abused more often than not and I can't imagine a "clampers guild" lobbying the government on this one?
 
ConfusedTA said:
Surely if you're parked in the wrong place, they'd want you to move.


So why do they immobilise your car and make it so you can't move. :confused:
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Surely if they can clamp me bcause they have put up a sign saying "park here and get clamped, £120 for release." (or words to that effect) then I can put a sign on my cars saying "Wheel clamp test vehicle, any clamps will be tested to destruction if fitted, £120 fee for testing" and cut of said lamp if it's attached ?

Legally it seems to hang on acceptance of a contract by an affirmative action. I park there I accept their terms, they fix a clamp, they accept mine.

If I won the lottery, this is the kind of case I would have fun with !
 
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