Diner outsmarts the wheelclampers
A little Kiwi initiative and a cluster of buff gym-goers helped an Auckland diner out of a wheel-clamping conundrum.
The Aucklander zipped in to a takeaway joint for five minutes to pick up dinner last Monday, only to find out his car had been clamped.
As Liu, who only wants to be known by his last name, was walking back to his car, food in hand, an Elite Parking Services employee invited him to pay $200 to be unclamped.
But Liu thought something was up when an 0800 number for the company didn’t work, and the clamper wasn’t going to give an invoice.
So he made a counter-offer – he would replace the tyre and the clamper could keep it.
The man allegedly told Liu he would clamp all of the remaining wheels if Liu followed through.
Undeterred, Liu found volunteer help at a nearby gym.
This prompted the wheel clamper to call some of his own friends to the scene.
Out of fear a fight might break out, Liu called police.
Police told him wheel-clamping was a civil matter but they could stand by and make sure he and his new gym friends weren’t assaulted.
Eventually, Liu and the gymgoers managed to change the tyre, leaving the clamped one behind, and promptly left.
Mark Stockdale, principal adviser for regulations at the Automobile Association, said it could not condone changing a tyre to get out of a clamping fine, but it illustrated the need for clamping to be banned.
A voluntary code of conduct on clamping and other forms of parking enforcement, introduced by the National Government, was signed in 2012 by Comprise Group, Egmont Security, Tournament Parking, Valley Parking and Wilson Parking.
The code is clear that clamping is a last resort and should only be used for repeat offenders or where towing is not practical, Stockdale said.
Liu’s Henderson Parking spot was also the subject of a dispute two years ago when Elite Parking clamped a brokendown vehicle in the parking lot less than a minute after a family left it to seek help.
At the time, Te Atatu¯ MP Phil Twyford labelled the company’s actions as ‘‘predatory’’, saying ‘‘the Government should have stopped clamping ages ago’’.
A spokesman yesterday said the now-Government minister stood by his views on clamping.
Elite Parking could not be reached for comment.