They don't muck about, here...

16.04.06, 12:44
On the way back from Church this morning, we saw that it was not a day of
rest nor a holiday for a pair of policemen and the haulage firm they had
contracted to remove a car parked "na losia" ("like a moose") in front of a
parade of shops on Pruszkowska Street.

They didn't have the sort of overhead lifting crane that would have been
needed to access the vehicle, parked right up next to the shops so as to
prevent pedestrians from getting by at all (the rule here I understand is 1.5
metres), so they simply smashed the window, got in, took off the handbrake
and steered it out as it was pulled back onto the "laweta" by a cable.

And off it went.

There was a small crowd gathered around, and they all had pretty approving
looks-on-face. My wife, who walks with a stick and is particularly bothered
by people who do things like that, was delighted. She wanted to give the
police a round of applause but I advised against it as they might have
thought she was being sarcastic, and given us a "mandat" or something.

It certainly didn't bother me, what they did. The driver had no "kultura" at
all, parking like that. If they only reserve the heavy tactics for such
extreme cases of "abnegacja" on the part of "kierowcy", and don't get a taste
for it, then it doesn't threaten me - I don't park like that.
    • chris-joe Re: They don't muck about, here... 16.04.06, 18:33
      Man, wish they did that in Montreal! That would be a true Kristallnacht...
    • kylie1 Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 07:39
      I don't quite understand what the guy did. Parked illegally?

      No one would smash windows in Canada unless there was an emergency - like a
      small kid locked inside the vehicle or something like that.

      Shouldn't a towing company have a tow truck at their disposal for that kinda
      stuff?
      Who will pay for the new windshield? To replace a windshield in our car is
      about $900.

      ....?
      • bartis_ervin Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 11:22

        I agree with Kylie; it is a bit drastical.

        The fact that they did not have a crane it does not mandate then to brake my
        windshield. The fact that I double-parked or parked illegaly, means that my car
        can be toed, but not smashed.

        I would definitely sue the company to pay for the windshield and the costs of
        the trial and I would sue the person who smashed the windshield for illegal acts
        against a private property.

        Ervin

        Thebartiski.blogspot.com
        • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 13:05
          bartis_ervin napisał:

          >
          > I agree with Kylie; it is a bit drastical.
          >
          > The fact that they did not have a crane it does not mandate then to brake my
          > windshield. The fact that I double-parked or parked illegaly, means that my
          car
          > can be toed, but not smashed.
          >
          > I would definitely sue the company to pay for the windshield and the costs of
          > the trial and I would sue the person who smashed the windshield for illegal
          act
          > s
          > against a private property.
          >
          > Ervin
          >
          > Thebartiski.blogspot.com

          But what jury would you expect to sympathise with your case when the police got
          out their photos that showed your client had parked in such a way as to make
          disabled people not be able to reach the shops?

          Private property comes with all sorts of provisos, Ervin. It's a relative term
          anyway. One time I got a wrong number and I just managed to hit on this guy
          with a chip in his shoulder in a bolshy mood. He kept saying "this is a private
          line, this is a private line!" so I said, "It's ok, I'm also calling from a
          private line, so there's no risk of the public being involved."

          Until now, of course. Now that I've mentioned it on the internet.
          • hallie Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 13:42
            Do you mean that these removal companies can legitimately damage your car in
            the process of removing it from the street if parked illegally?
            Their "przepisy" sanction it and you can't touch them?
            • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 22:21
              hallie napisała:

              > Do you mean that these removal companies can legitimately damage your car in
              > the process of removing it from the street if parked illegally?
              > Their "przepisy" sanction it and you can't touch them?

              If the police are in attendance and telling them what to do, then they can do
              these things.

              If a policeman wants the car removed, then he will arrange that, and if it is
              damaged in the process, then the onus is then going to be on you to make a
              complaint. If you want to take the police to court you can, but I would have
              said that if you parked in not only an illegal but also highly antisocial way
              like this guy did, you're going to have an uphill struggle.

              Let's imagine that either side losing in court goes to appeal, and that at some
              point a jury gets involved, and then the police trot out photographs of how
              this guy parked over his Easter break. Do you suppose the jury are going to
              have much sympathy with him? I should say he's stuffed. It may not be according
              to the "przepisy", but he's stuffed anyway, and this after waitung six months
              for each level of court appearance.

              The only way he will want to fund it is if the insurance company want to fight
              it for him, and they will probably want to let discretion be the better part of
              valour also. He might get his damage repaired off insurance if it exceeds
              his "franszyza" and he has "autokasko", but it will increase the policy he pays
              next time. The insurance company will deal with it that way.

              And if he was too tight-assed to pay for auto-kasko, then he's not gonna want
              to pay for a 200 PLN an hour lawyer either, on the off-chance he might win in
              the court lottery.
              • hallie Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 23:21
                Great, so you're stuffed either way. The claim to the insurance company might
                as well say:

                "Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo."

                as quoted on here
                www.funny-haha.co.uk/Joke.asp?J=221
                • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 18.04.06, 01:14
                  hallie napisała:

                  > Great, so you're stuffed either way. The claim to the insurance company might
                  > as well say:
                  >
                  > "Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo."
                  >
                  > as quoted on here
                  > www.funny-haha.co.uk/Joke.asp?J=221

                  Very good collection!

                  I think that if you want to win and not be stuffed the best way to go about it
                  is to park a bit better. If the police don't damage the car, the neighbours
                  will. It's not unusual for cars that are parked extremely badly to have the
                  paintwork scratched or the air let out of the tyres. At least in this case
                  they'll know who did it.
      • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 12:56
        kylie1 napisała:

        > I don't quite understand what the guy did. Parked illegally?

        Yes, he parked like this: oooo8ooo. His vehicle was the top bit of the "eight"
        among those "o"s, so there was no room to walk along the pavement and people
        had to walk around and go down the street. Whatever had been behind him was
        gone, though, so it just looked as he had parked har too far next to the
        building.

        > No one would smash windows in Canada unless there was an emergency - like a
        > small kid locked inside the vehicle or something like that.

        They wouldn't in the UK either, but they would have a small crane that would
        come and lift the whole thing out.

        > Shouldn't a towing company have a tow truck at their disposal for that kinda
        > stuff?

        They had a vehicle with a ramp on it, but no crane. I have never seen a car-
        removal-by-crane vehicle in Poland.

        > Who will pay for the new windshield? To replace a windshield in our car is
        > about $900.

        The driver will pay for the window. It was the side window, and it will be
        about 200-300 $.

        No-one else is gonna pay for the window. He's also gonna have to pay about the
        same again to get his vehicle back.
    • ejmarkow Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 10:55
      usenetposts napisał:

      > On the way back from Church this morning, we saw that it was not a day of
      > rest nor a holiday for a pair of policemen and the haulage firm they had
      > contracted to remove a car parked "na losia" ("like a moose") in front of a
      > parade of shops on Pruszkowska Street.
      >
      > They didn't have the sort of overhead lifting crane that would have been
      > needed to access the vehicle, parked right up next to the shops so as to
      > prevent pedestrians from getting by at all (the rule here I understand is 1.5
      > metres), so they simply smashed the window, got in, took off the handbrake
      > and steered it out as it was pulled back onto the "laweta" by a cable.
      >
      > And off it went.
      >
      > There was a small crowd gathered around, and they all had pretty approving
      > looks-on-face. My wife, who walks with a stick and is particularly bothered
      > by people who do things like that, was delighted. She wanted to give the
      > police a round of applause but I advised against it as they might have
      > thought she was being sarcastic, and given us a "mandat" or something.
      >
      > It certainly didn't bother me, what they did. The driver had no "kultura" at
      > all, parking like that. If they only reserve the heavy tactics for such
      > extreme cases of "abnegacja" on the part of "kierowcy", and don't get a taste
      > for it, then it doesn't threaten me - I don't park like that.
      >

      It's too bad those sidewalks aren't fortified with those red and white anti-
      parking posts connected with chains that are so common in many Polish cities. I
      guess they can't be placed everywhere, only in areas that have a parking
      problem like the one you described.

      Eugene
      • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 17.04.06, 13:00
        ejmarkow napisał:

        > usenetposts napisał:
        >
        > > On the way back from Church this morning, we saw that it was not a day of
        >
        > > rest nor a holiday for a pair of policemen and the haulage firm they had
        > > contracted to remove a car parked "na losia" ("like a moose") in front of
        > a
        > > parade of shops on Pruszkowska Street.
        > >
        > > They didn't have the sort of overhead lifting crane that would have been
        > > needed to access the vehicle, parked right up next to the shops so as to
        > > prevent pedestrians from getting by at all (the rule here I understand is
        > 1.5
        > > metres), so they simply smashed the window, got in, took off the handbrak
        > e
        > > and steered it out as it was pulled back onto the "laweta" by a cable.
        > >
        > > And off it went.
        > >
        > > There was a small crowd gathered around, and they all had pretty approvin
        > g
        > > looks-on-face. My wife, who walks with a stick and is particularly bother
        > ed
        > > by people who do things like that, was delighted. She wanted to give the
        > > police a round of applause but I advised against it as they might have
        > > thought she was being sarcastic, and given us a "mandat" or something.
        > >
        > > It certainly didn't bother me, what they did. The driver had no "kultura"
        > at
        > > all, parking like that. If they only reserve the heavy tactics for such
        > > extreme cases of "abnegacja" on the part of "kierowcy", and don't get a t
        > aste
        > > for it, then it doesn't threaten me - I don't park like that.
        > >
        >
        > It's too bad those sidewalks aren't fortified with those red and white anti-
        > parking posts connected with chains that are so common in many Polish cities.
        I
        >
        > guess they can't be placed everywhere, only in areas that have a parking
        > problem like the one you described.
        >
        > Eugene

        You are allowed to park on that pavement, though, but not less than 1.5 metres
        from the building face. That is the law in Poland, by the way, and usually you
        might get a ticket if you leave a metre or 80 cm for people to walk through,
        this guy left no chance to get past, and so he was simply reckoned by all
        parties involved, especially those witnessing the removal, to have richly
        deserved his fate.

        They may not have done it to a car with a foreign registration, at least, not a
        western one, but still we gotta obey the kodeks drogowy if we drive here.
    • ianek70 Re: They don't muck about, here... 19.04.06, 11:08
      It's hard to take sides without actually seeing what happened, but...
      Private property is less important than public safety, otherwise homocidal
      maniacs and terrorists would be able to demand back their guns, swords or
      anthrax powder - "It's mine, I paid for that dagger, I built that nailbomb from
      my own nails".
      If you endanger someone's life or health with your car or pet tiger, then you
      shouldn't have it.

      I used to go every Sunday to a certain supermarket in K-ce. It had a large car
      park, but this was always completely full when I was there because there was a
      church across the road, and I always did my shopping early, before mass
      finished and the faithful flooded the supermarket.
      People would often park on the zebra crossing. I know these arrogant scum meant
      well (they wanted to send lucky children to Heaven), but personally I thought
      this was extremely irresponsible. Fortunately, their god is a loving one and
      forgives the clumsiness of those who sometimes accidentally scratched the
      paintwork on their cars.
      • usenetposts Re: They don't muck about, here... 20.04.06, 18:15
        ianek70 napisał:

        > It's hard to take sides without actually seeing what happened, but...
        > Private property is less important than public safety, otherwise homocidal
        > maniacs and terrorists would be able to demand back their guns, swords or
        > anthrax powder - "It's mine, I paid for that dagger, I built that nailbomb
        from
        >
        > my own nails".
        > If you endanger someone's life or health with your car or pet tiger, then you
        > shouldn't have it.
        >
        > I used to go every Sunday to a certain supermarket in K-ce. It had a large
        car
        > park, but this was always completely full when I was there because there was
        a
        > church across the road, and I always did my shopping early, before mass
        > finished and the faithful flooded the supermarket.
        > People would often park on the zebra crossing. I know these arrogant scum
        meant
        >
        > well (they wanted to send lucky children to Heaven), but personally I thought
        > this was extremely irresponsible. Fortunately, their god is a loving one and
        > forgives the clumsiness of those who sometimes accidentally scratched the
        > paintwork on their cars.

        It is not so much forgiven, as required.
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