Clampers
A friend recently got clamped outside her house despite the fact she'd been displaying the required parking permit. She phoned to complain and said that the permit was on the dashboard, in clear view. "Ah," she was told, "we are an equal opportunity employer and the inspector who booked you is vertically challenged, so how could he possibly be expected to see your permit there?"

FFS!

This story may amuse some but it wasn't in the least bit funny for the unfortunate person on the receiving end, who had to fork out £95 because the clamping firm employed someone clearly unsuitable for the job in the name of political correctness. It's pathetic!
(eesnahk, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 16:31, 8 replies)

I might have suggest a violent reaction...
...but no one tosses a dwarf.

Seriously, though, if you're going to employ somebody who is, without question, too short to do it, why not give them a pair of (Health & Safety certified) platform shoes or a portable step ladder? Or a periscope or something?

I suspect they may want our money. I know it doesn't sound like them, but you never know...
(Sir Harrington Titsmith disgraced himself on, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 16:48, closed)

My
bullshitometer is going off the scale!

SHE'S GONNA BLOW!
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 16:55, closed)

Bah
I call Bollocks on that one.
( Mike Fishcake teamfishcake.co.uk - better than your mum's face, Fri 23 Nov 2007, 16:59, closed)

It's PC gone mad, I tell you!
You wouldn't get clamped for not displaying a permit, you would get fined. Local authorities don't have inspectors, they have "parking patrol officers" (natty name, huh...) and I doubt very much that someone on the phone would be able to tell you which chap booked you, let alone share personal information about them, given the amount of assaults on parking pa... traffic wardens.

I call bull.
(lofichic, Sun 25 Nov 2007, 2:24, closed)

Not made up, I assure you
In response to some of the above replies, I assure you I have stated the facts as I was told them. People living in that area of London do get clamped for not displaying a permit - it happened to someone else I know too. Maybe I got the parking patrol officer's job title wrong but the job is the same whatever you call them. And when my friend phoned to contest it she had to ring a mobile number and spoke to someone who was obviously at home (there were the telltale background noises such as a baby crying etc) which suggests the firm is a small outfit and they would certainly know who had been working that day.

So no, I didn't make this up. I wish I had as that would mean I had the imagination to be a successful novelist!
(eesnahk, Sun 25 Nov 2007, 14:55, closed)

If true...
then that's what the Courts are there for.
(patently Was somewhere else on, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 11:20, closed)

Of course you had a valid permit, madam
My guess is that the council officer was fighting bullshit with bullshit.

I've heard the sob story about people parking in the wrong place alleging they're displaying a permit so many times I might even try that story myself.
(boredcouncilofficer, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 2:02, closed)

clamper
it makes you wonder about blind clampers
(pogo_it, Wed 28 Nov 2007, 15:48, closed)