September 16, 2003
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No, It's...
You thought they were the stuff of comic books, TV shows, and movies. Who else would wear a blue catsuit, gold boots and a matching pair of crotch-hugging briefs? With the way that drivers are being treated these days, we have needed a superhero. Now we have Angle Grinder Man!
The chief weapon used by traffic wardens against parking violators in this country, and especially in London, is the wheel clamp. I never have understood the logic of the wheel clamp, since it forcibly leaves in place a vehicle that should have been there in the first place. You're blocking traffic? Well, we'll clamp you in place so that until you cough up £105, the obstruction will remain. Already paid £105 plus the fine for a parking space? Might as well leave it all day for that price.
But really, who wants to pay and extra £105 to park? (That's about $170, for those of you keeping score on the other side of the Pond.) Angle Grinder Man didn't, so he went to a tool hire shop and got - you guessed it - an angle grinder. He sawed off the clamp amidst cheering bystanders and a superhero was born.
Now he goes out at night in the aforementioned costume and cuts off clamps. Though he has advertised his service through flyers and a website (which wasn't working due to a server error when I tried it), and takes calls on the Angle Grinder hotline, he accepts no payment for his services.
Posted by david at September 16, 2003 11:42 PM | TrackBackDont ya spose the fuzz are gonna shut this guy down asap? Sent the link on to Stu...
Posted by: Mary at September 18, 2003 02:49 AMApparently not. As reported in The Times:
Without proof that he was contracted to remove a clamp, Angle Grinder Man claims, local councils are powerless to prosecute individual drivers.
“There’s nothing to prove that anyone called me and arranged for me to remove a clamp. I always tell drivers to pay their fines, but there’s no reason they should pay for the clamp,” he said.
According to police: “Both Angle Grinder Man and the owner of the vehicle could be charged with criminal damage if the driver admitted they consented to the act.”
Posted by: David Holford at September 18, 2003 11:01 PMEverybody needs a cause!