AN EVERYDAY TALE OF CLAMPING

27-05-2008

Stirrer editor Adrian Goldberg is launching a Downing Street petition to rid England of car clampers. Birmingham blogger Adrian Bailey has sent us his own sad tales of a run-in with the rogues of the road.

Went to Latif's today with my daughter. I like browsing there. The worst thing about the place is the car park: it's too small, forcing people to queue or to drive around looking for somewhere else legal to park. I've had a ticket before for parking in New Canal Street on a single yellow line, so i didn't risk it. I opted for a small private carpark which charges just 50p for an hour. (You know what's coming next, don't you...)



As we queued up at the checkout it dawned on me that I hadn't checked the time, and as we left the store I was shocked, but not surprised, to see my car on the back of a towtruck. I picked up Catherine and ran to challenge the driver, a Mr Marcin Jaroszewicz, who told me, of course, that he couldn't take my car off. (Translation: not allowed to by his boss.) After a few minutes I had to give up, and phone the number on the sign.



The number is wrong, but I got the correct number and the nice lady told me to pop along to Midland Street with £350 if I wanted to see my car again. I took Catherine home on the bus, took my two debit cards to a cashpoint, and got a bus back into town. Midland Street is in the twilight zone about a mile from the centre.




You ring the bell and a guy comes to the gate with a piece of paper and you sign the paper and hand over your £350 before you're allowed in. The pound is behind a second gate, so that you can't actually see whether your car is there or not.

My car was there and seemingly none the worse for wear, but I'm determined to make as many waves as I can about this diabolical ripoff. There were about 40 other cars in the pound, each about to earn the proprietor, Mathew Nathan Wilkins, of 352 Stonehouse Lane, Quinton, an additional £40 for a night in his care.

(It's just occurred to me that the A&S on the ticket and A/S on the receipt refer to the landowner, which means it's probably A&S Textiles. The grid reference of the carpark is SP076868.)

To read more by Adrian Bailey, click here http://ukroads.blogspot.com/2008/05/midway-parks.html

To see more details of The Stirrer’s campaign launched in last Thursday’s Birmingham Mail column, click here http://tinyurl.com/6nnncy