Some minutes after purchasing a piece of computer software in a shop
named COMPUSTORE (in Galway City) on August 1st 2002, I walked the
short distance back to my car and found that it had been wheel
clamped. The time then was approximately 2 p.m.
The COMPUSTORE shop in question is located in
Galway Retail
Park, and this particular car park has a number of signs on
public display for the past year or so -
which give NO clue
as to who their owners might be. Photographs of two of the
signs (numbered 2 and 3) which I refer to here can be seen at www
page location:
I returned to the COMPUSTORE shop straightaway, and one of the
people working there phoned the Garda (Police); and, while we were
waiting, this person informed me that they have had a
whole string of similar complaints in the past year or so. Some
minutes later a Garda car containing three Garda officers (driven
by Garda Aileen Marinan) arrived at the scene. Garda Andy Burke
acted as spokesman and basically told me that "it was a civil
matter", and that there was nothing they could do: particularly as
I had at one point (between 12 noon and 2 p.m.) left the Galway
Retail Park to visit the shopping complex on the opposite side of
the road - a mere 50 yards or so away from where my car was
parked. Garda Burke suggested that I discuss the matter with a
solicitor, and the Garda car then drove off - leaving me to deal
with my predicament by myself.
Shortly afterwards I asked one of the wheel clambers for his name
- which he said was Noel O'Boyle. When I asked who he worked for,
he REFUSED to tell me. (Neither he nor his
companion were wearing any uniform of any kind.)
Following this I walked the mile or so to Mill Street
Garda Station and Garda Michael Gearan at reception
recorded the wheel-clamping incident I related to him in his log
book under the reference number 459. I also
provided him with a copy of the receipt dated August 1st 2002 for
€121.64 that I had just hours before received from COMPUSTORE.
Rigidly following the pattern of his colleagues, Garda Gearan also
told me there was really nothing he could do because it was "a
civil matter", and that I needed to consult a solicitor.
I then asked to talk with someone more senior, and the Garda
Station Sergeant on duty at the time entered the reception area
(who as far as I can recall told me his name was Brendan
Carroll). He also told me there was nothing he could do: that it
was a civil matter, and that I should consult a solicitor.
Then, in desperation, and as a last
resort, I decided to start roaring and shouting at the top of my
voice using all the obscenities that could I think of. In
addition, I threw various bits and pieces of my belongings around
the reception area (a number of times). Soon, an audience of some
15 or so people had gathered; and, as Sergeant Carroll was on the
verge of charging me with a breach of the peace, I pointed out to
him that I felt I was being VERY SEVERELY
provoked: because the police kept on - and on - refusing to help
me in circumstances whereby I believed my car had been UNLAWFULLY
clamped - having due regard for the fact that they (the police)
were unable to provide me with a SINGLE shred of evidence that the
clamping my car had just been subjected to was in any way remotely
lawful.
To his credit, Sergeant Carroll then began to listen a bit better
to the things I was trying to explain to him, and presently he
admitted to me that he himself has felt for some time that there
is something very strange - which he does not understand - about
the ONGOING car clamping operation in Galway
Retail Park. By this time, it was about 4 p.m.
Several hours later (at around 8 p.m.), Sergeant
Carroll eventually arranged for a Garda car to take me from Mill
Street Station back to my own car in the Galway Retail Park. When
we arrived, the wheel clamp had been removed (even though I had
NOT paid any part of the €50 which was
earlier demanded from me).
I then asked the three Garda with me in the car (which included
Garda Mark O' Sullivan and Garda Paudie O'Shea) if they would
witness a short conversation between myself and the wheel-clamper
who earlier in the day told me his name was Noel O'Boyle. They
agreed. I then asked the wheel-clamper if he would tell me his
name. He refused. I repeated the question, and he refused a
second time. I then asked him if he would tell me the name of the
company he worked for. He refused. I repeated the question, and
he refused again. I looked at the three Garda in a silent
questioning kind of way: and they all asserted there was
NOTHING they could do.
Allowing for the fact that I am a regular user of the above
mentioned car park, and for the extremely disturbing, degrading,
and time wasting ordeal I was put through last Thursday, I now
feel I have EVERY right to ask (and to be given)
clear, direct answers - by the Garda - to the following four
questions:
1) Who are the legal owners of Galway Retail
Park ?
2) Who are the legal owners of the signs shown
in the photographs marked 2 and 3 at www page address:
3) What are the names of the two wheel-clampers
who clamped my car ?
and
4) What is the name of the company that the
two wheel-clampers work for ?
WITH REGARD TO THE ABOVE FOUR QUESTIONS, PLEASE ALSO
NOTE THAT I NOW INTEND TO SEEK FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FOR THE
EXTREME EMOTIONAL UPSET, LOSS, AND DAMAGE, WHICH I HAVE
SUFFERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE MATTERS REFERRED TO IN THIS
E-MAIL.
It would be much appreciated if you could let me have a written
answers to the above four questions within the coming 14 days
please. It would also be appreciated - PLEASE
- if you did NOT refer me to solicitors.
As I explained to several of the police officers at Mill Street
Station (in response to their suggestions to consult
solicitors), I have come to see lawyers in the Republic of
Ireland as a COMPLETE waste of time when it
comes to dealing with anything that is connected with
the taboo subject of State corruption - as I suspect
the unlawful (as I see it) clamping operation now going on in
Galway Retail Park forms a tiny part.
Should you wish to know reasons for my present lack of
confidence in lawyers in the Republic of Ireland, please see the
main text at the www address provided immediately below. (You
may wish to take PARTICULAR NOTE of paragraphs
4, 5, and 6 - which relate to the Waste
Management (Amendment) Act, 2001.)
Hopefully, my present attitude towards lawyers in the Republic
of Ireland will improve: however, that is a matter which I
feel is highly dependant on when - if ever - senior politicians
and senior State lawyers here in the Republic of Ireland start
taking note of what ordinary citizens such as myself are trying
to point out to them in letters such as this one. It might also
be very helpful if they were to pay MUCH
CLOSER
ATTENTION to the information contained in the GRECO
and Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports
on corruption in the Republic of Ireland referred to at the
following www page address:
Later today, I intend to send a printed and signed copy of this
e-mail to you through the registered post. In addition, and
mainly for the purpose of providing a translation service into
other European languages, I also intend to place a copy of the
text of this e-mail at the following www page location
sometime during this weekend:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/clamping_email.htm
Finally, I would like to finish by saying that - given the
opportunity - I would prefer to have addressed this e-mail
directly to Assistant Police Commissioner Jennings at Mill
Street Garda Station in Galway City. However, Sergeant
Carroll (referred to above) was not willing to give me
Commissioner Jennings e-mail address last Thursday. I asked
him a number of times for it in the presence of several of his
colleagues, and he refused - without giving any reason for
why he was refusing. Whatever his reason/s, I see his refusal
to provide this information as
WILFUL OBSTRUCTION (for
no good reason): which I take a very dim view of.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. William Finnerty
"St Albans"
New Inn
Ballinasloe
County Galway.
