# Clamped when paid but ticket had flipped over?



## karlod (26 Aug 2008)

Hi Everybody,

I got clamped in Smithfield sq about 10 days ago. I paid from 1420 - 1711 but when i closed the door or whatever happened, the ticket turn face down. Clamper came and clamped me about 1600. So i appealed the decision with parking services and they came back saying it stood.
Is there any point in going to the independant appeals officer, am i wasting my time? Has anybody done this and got their 80 quid back?
I know it says the ticket must be shown but i feel hard done by on this as i had actually paid!!!

Thanks
Karl


----------



## MrMan (26 Aug 2008)

Unfortunately you would be responsible for making sure it faced the right way up otherwise whats to stop actual offenders from lying about it.


----------



## briancbyrne (26 Aug 2008)

surely the ticket has the date and times covered noted on it?


----------



## karlod (26 Aug 2008)

MrMan, i know what ya mean but i sent on the ticket that had the time on it and the letter you get when clamped as proof i had paid and clamped within that period. So i wasnt lying.


----------



## paddi22 (26 Aug 2008)

Thats unfortunate.. but surely they can't accept the ticket. For all they know you could have gone and gotten it off a friend or stranger who has paid for roughly the same time period - unlikely but possible!


----------



## jhegarty (26 Aug 2008)

appeal it saying the ticket was there , but the clamper just didn't see it .... (all technically true)....

attach a photocopy of the ticket...


----------



## karlod (26 Aug 2008)

paddi22 said:


> Thats unfortunate.. but surely they can't accept the ticket. For all they know you could have gone and gotten it off a friend or stranger who has paid for roughly the same time period - unlikely but possible!


 

Never thought of that!!!!

Jhegerty, i have already and they said it stands. There an independant agency aswell and i was wondering did anybody go to them before?


----------



## mathepac (26 Aug 2008)

I think this is a similar "offence" to non-display of tax or insurance.

So even if you have paid and don't have a valid ticket or disc displayed properly, you're snookered.

Don't most cars have the little plastic clip on the inside of the windscreen to prevent the "flip-over" phenomenon?


----------



## BOXtheFOX (26 Aug 2008)

Bring back the sticky sided ticket I say.


----------



## rmelly (26 Aug 2008)

paddi22 said:


> Thats unfortunate.. but surely they can't accept the ticket. For all they know you could have gone and gotten it off a friend or stranger who has paid for roughly the same time period - unlikely but possible!


 
Exactly



> appeal it saying the ticket was there , but the clamper just didn't see it .... (all technically true)....
> 
> attach a photocopy of the ticket...


 
It was the OPs responsibility to ensure it was visible, the OP admits it wasn't, where are the grounds for an appeal? To say the clamper 'just didn't see it' is a bit much - do you expect him to have x-ray vision or something? Plus for all they know he might have picked the valid ticket up off the ground.

It sounds like he has already appealed, presumably supplying the relevant information. Can you appeal multiple times?


----------



## joanmul (26 Aug 2008)

I parked in an outdoor car park. At the time, another person had called to have his car de-clamped (for not paying) so the clampers were there when I parked. I didn't notice that my ticket had flipped over but the clamper was just passing and drew my attention to it. If they can't see it (read it) it's not there.


----------



## Sue Ellen (26 Aug 2008)

If it does not cost much to appeal IMHO it is worth a try.  [broken link removed] lady certainly felt her case would stand up.  They partly cause the problem by providing tickets that don't stick to the dashboard.

Would put it on a par with people leaving their Luas ticket at home.  Heard an inspector issuing a fine but confirmed that once the proof of ticket was forwarded on it would be sorted.

If someone hit a parked car this could flip the ticket over also.  Would they add to someone's back luck in this type of situation.  These days people having to reach their quotas can leave a lot to be desired.  If someone can provide a valid ticket then the fine should be wiped out but fair play doesn't seem to mean much anymore


----------



## tink (26 Aug 2008)

We have an ongoing situation also. We rent an apartment and have a permit we display in the car window. We went on holidays last year and luckily after 3 days my partner asked his friend to get his licence out the car as he needed it to rent a car. The friend went down to find our car clamped! A woman in our complex called the private clamping company even though she knows the car and that we have a valid permit but it was hidden by a tax disc. The clamper told our friend we could reclaim the money. We sent in a letter and rang up and was told a cheque was in the post. But we then got a letter saying that our claim was not valid ! I feel quite annoyed about this because no one else could have given us this permit and it clearly belongs to this apartment! Anybody have any suggestions. Just particularly annoyed when we were told we would get the money back twice !


----------



## Sue Ellen (26 Aug 2008)

Hi tink,

Presumably the Management Company use the clampers to keep the parking in order?  Could you contact them and ask them to sort it out or your landlord might be able to give some advice.


----------



## bamboozle (27 Aug 2008)

i got clamped cause i had removed my work parking permit during its NCT & left it  on the dashboard but upside down, i got clamped and hit with €120 fine.

so i appealed based on the fact that i had a valid parking permit, i had parked there for 12 months so surely the clamper would have recognised the car (small carpark & same clamper most of the time)
also one of my colleagues saw the clamper preparing to clamp my car and pointed out to him that i had a parking permit but he still proceeded to clamp it even after i came out to show him my permit

I appealed and sent in a photocopy of my valid permit & a photo of my dashboard with the permit upside down -  but it was rejected!

so i've sent in a letter complaining about the conduct of the clamper as he went ahead with the clamping despite all of the above!!!


----------



## gar123 (27 Aug 2008)

this happened to me on st stephens green, showed the ticket to the clampers when they came back to release clamp and it was still valid even after 10 mins for them to show up

they said we will report it and you will get off on appeal, i did not, 

i think the lack of the sticky back tickets is increasing revenues the clampers said it happens at least 10 times a day


----------



## tink (27 Aug 2008)

Unfortunately the lady in question is the management committee haha ! She's just awful ! We told our landlord and he was appalled but I think he's afraid of her. I guess the moral of the story for all of us is that the clampers are lying when they say we will get the money back on appeal !


----------



## rmelly (28 Aug 2008)

tink said:


> I guess the moral of the story for all of us is that the clampers are lying when they say we will get the money back on appeal !


 
This is probably a standard line they all use to calm you down so you don't take it out on them, and make it someone elses problem.


----------



## newirishman (28 Aug 2008)

sueellen said:


> If someone hit a parked car this could flip the ticket over also.



This would need some hitting I'd think. 



sueellen said:


> These days people having to reach their quotas can leave a lot to be desired.  If someone can provide a valid ticket then the fine should be wiped out but fair play doesn't seem to mean much anymore



Sure clamping is a business model. But honestly how complex or time -consuming is it to check if the parking ticket is clearly visible after closing the door of the car? 
If you leave this simple rule open to discussion or interpretation then guaranteed everyone will try to argue.


----------

