[dreamtheater39]

Carry a mobile Parking signboard and hoist one up right next to the car
Have your pet dog wait inside (the nastier he looks, the better are your chances )

[Grace]

Deflate your rear wheels.

Since all new generation cars come with cigarette lighter socket, easy to inflate the tyre using an inflator (available for Rs 1500/- plus).

Andy

[Dhanu@DJ]

Originally Posted by SDP

Sorry for bumping a old thread. Came here from the hot-threads listing on the first page of the site.

Like most, came here looking for a genuine discussion and a few real solutions. Was pleasantly surprised to see the hilarious responses (especially from a bunch of Mods themselves).

Ice's story about he 'borrowing' the wheel-clamp from the police is fantastic. A word of caution though. After a few such instances, the police have become smarter in terms of design of the clamps. I have seen clamps in Mumbai which would make removing the wheel impossible. Even the locks are integrated with the clamp now. Have read a story in the newspaper, where somebody in New Mumbai managed to somehow disengage the clamp from his car and took it away. Apparently (unlike Ice's story) the police had kept a record of which vehicles were clamped and they traced the car owner over the period of the next month or something and went ahead and booked him under 'theft of govt property' as well!

In short, be careful while pulling such stunts now. The police have become much smarter now.

I had seen a Q5 doing this in Bangalore. The the clamped wheel was swapped with spare wheel. To his luck the cop had no other information like vehicle number etc... Although the clamp had an integrated lock the owner acknowledge on another day saying he got it removed with the help of a duplicate key maker. Of course he did not try to use the clamp to park in no parking zone.

[honeybee]

In my locality the police have shifted from towing to clamping. The vehicles are always tracked in a diary with the cop accompanying the towing van. So even if I bought a clamp and used it, I would be caught right away.

About the advice on leaving the car home and taking a ride in a public transport, not only the auto-rickshaws are towed away, but in my case the chances of the car being towed away are higher if I leave it home (since I have to park on a road).

Some imaginative responses, I must say!

[magikrider]

Originally Posted by gr8guzzler

I have seen the tow guys use a ruler and open the door of cars and disengage the gear and handbrake before they tow the car away.

Originally Posted by Sankar

It will not work with all car locks.

my car has been almost always towed like that! coz i have a habit of engaging the car in 1st after i stop it and also pull the hand brake. but it has never stopped those miscreants to tow my car ever! wonder if at all this is legal for them to break into someone's car even if its for towing anyway.. i mean put those clams or whatever or give me a ticket but you have no right to break into my car!

and the worst part is you can never argue with them and win ever! as i heard if it goes out of hand or you challenge them or something, you are given the summons of some kinda special court usually reffered to as "anadi court" where you have no option but to accept your fault and pay the fine coz if you try to argue or unaccept the charge, you are not heard but your fine keeps on increasing till you accept! so the easier option is to just accept the charge and pay the fine and get out!

one of my relative was once taken to one such court for abusing a traffic cop! he came out happily after paying the fine as he was more than happy to vent out his frustration on the cop and pay a nominal fine!

Originally Posted by Grace

Deflate your rear wheels.

Since all new generation cars come with cigarette lighter socket, easy to inflate the tyre using an inflator (available for Rs 1500/- plus).

Andy

never heard of any such thing! can you please elaborate what you mean and how it can be done?

[Altocumulus]

There was once in Mindspace, Mumbai I had seen a car which had its handbrakes engaged, being dragged by the tow van even though the rear wheels were locked. For some reason they couldn't open the doors. After a little distance with all the heaving and pulling the front bumpers came off. The tow van after this stopped and left the car there on the side of the road, with the bumper placed neatly on the roof. Guess their motive of making the owner pay for illegal parking was achieved.

In Kolkata, having a 'Govt of West Bengal' sticker helps, however its better if you actually know someone. Also I heard from a fellow BHPian about a white Bolero bearing the sticker POLICE with a 'is good' written in very small fonts below it on the front and rear windscreen. No one questions the car for illegal parking and he often manages to get salutes from constables while driving past them.

[Grace]

"Never heard of any such thing! can you please elaborate what you mean and how it can be done?"

@Magikrider

Search Ebay for Tyre inflator.

This is a small electric device powered by your car battery,is provided a long cord that goes into car cigerette lighter/ power socket. It is usually single piston type that provides decent air pressure to your deflated tyres. Infact I have mine fitted in my jeep and I frequently use it to inflate/ deflate my tyres depending on the terrain during OTRs.

@Altocumulus

Some time ago, youths in our locality started stckering thier rides with "POLITE" with T written in a curved manner till the day law caught up with them, however advocate stickers in black and PRESS stickers in bold red are still popular deterrants.

Andy

[ambujlal]

For friends in Bangalore, I used to be the superman of getting my bike picked up by police from almost every part of Bangalore. In fact my friends used to call me to ask which police station to go to collect their bike, if they landed in such a situation. I used to have the latest information. Why am I telling this?

To get rid of this problem, I upgraded from Splendor to Thunderbird. After that, not even once my bike got picked up. In fact once it was parked in front of FoodWorld on 100ft road in Indiranagar. The police truck came to pickup the bike, the guys get down from the truck, hold the silencer and backrest to lift and bang start jumping up! Why, first the bike was too heavy for them and second the silencer was smoking hot. I was standing in the store and could only smile at them. And yes it is a pretty legitimate parking for two wheeler but cops think otherwise

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by magikrider

my car has been almost always towed like that! coz i have...


...you please elaborate what you mean and how it can be done?

The 'Anadi Court' that you refer is actually called the ' Honorary Court'but people have christened it as 'Anadi Court'. Dont ever walk into that compound and ask someone where 'Anadi Court' is, they get offended very fast. This has happened with my friend and yes, the thing about the fine increasing till you accept is also very true.

Note From Team BHP Support-Team: Please avoid quoting large posts as it may inconvenience small-screen/mobile users. Thanks.

[Rajat]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Put a security system. So that when they lift your car to trowing, I beeps or makes a huge sound that the towing persons should run away. OR connect with an electric wire so that nobody touches the car.

Security systems are useless. I have a MGA security system in my wagon r. The other day I had parked and locked my car and had gone to a nearby shop. While I was returning back, I saw my car being opened by a towing guy with a steel scale.As soon as he opened the door to undo the handbrake, the alarm went off. While I rushed to my car to stop the guy from towing it, to my horror, the guy took out a remote from his pocket and silenced the alarm!

[ortopilot]

Originally Posted by magikrider

never heard of any such thing! can you please elaborate what you mean and how it can be done?

@Magikrider : check out 12V Electric Air Compressor Pump Car Bike Tyre Inflator | eBay

Seems to be decent enough and at 400/- worth a shot I guess!!!

[torquecurve]

Saw this incident happen when I was waiting to pick up a friend about a year or so ago. It was so hilarious it is still in memory. Happened very close to Shivajinagar police station (150 metres!), which incidentally also houses the training facility for the police.

Two girls (pretty ) had parked an Indigo with multi spoke alloys (OEM) opposite a Corn fast food outlet, which is no parking for 4 wheelers. While they were inside, a cop came up, put a very heavy chain and wrapped it around a couple of times around the wheel. Put a heavy padlock (Godrej type) and wrote his number on the glass and left.

The fun started after that. The girls came out. One girl started immediately pulling out her phone to call the cop. The other girl asked her to stop. Opened the car, popped the boot. I thought she will replace the spare...what happened next was an OMG moment.

She pulled out the tommy bar and a screwdriver. Then keeping the screwdriver as a chisel she started hammering with the tommy bar! What she did not realize is that the chain was heavy and the screw driver was barely making a dent. After realizing it, she picked up a big stone and started hammering with it!. The screwdriver was slipping and hitting the alloy multiple times. I was like, how dumb can she be? The alloy is a lot more expensive than the fine she would have to pay.

The best part was, a few guys had gathered there, they were all police trainees in plain clothes. One of them calmly walked over to the police station (150 metres!) and two PSI's came over. Meanwhile one of the plainclothes guys had pulled out a camera phone and was merrily taking a video of this. When the PSI's came, she was still hammering away in frustration, they called for female constables who came, took pictures and did spot panchanama. The plain clothes trainees signed as witnesses and also the shopkeeper. The car was confiscated. I overheard the lady telling her that 'government property damage case will be filed and also obstruction of government servant. When she starting abusing the police the PSI calmly said wah wah...now one more case, abusing police.

I dont know what to say but I really found the entire thing hilarous. Would it have not been easier to call the policeman, pay the fine (400 - 500 bucks?) and drive away than to damage a 3000 buck alloy and face the ignomy of arrest?

[kadanaJ]

I'm going with dreamtheater39's suggestion.

Leave a very large, very scary looking dog inside the car.

[Tapish]

My two cents:

Pull your steering to the extreme right/ left and park with the front side jammed ; ie, they then have to lift your car from the back. No way on earth they can then tow the car.

Cheeers,
Tapish

[mmxylorider]

Put a sign on the car "Vehicle broken down. Tow Van arranged".

Buy a red beacon and just keep it inside on dashboard. The towings guys would think twice about towing the vehicle away and I don't think owning a beacon is a crime!