The scum of the earth
So the wife’s car got booted today. Apparently, at 3:15am this morning, the boot people were creeping around our park and finding people who didn’t properly place their parking permits in the windows of their vehicles. Neither of our vehicles had permits, but luckily the Volvo didn’t get booted for whatever reason. Regardless, I heard a car idling out in front of our house and it was the boot company, I went outside to see what was going on, and discovered that the ford had a boot. I immediately went back in the house, grabbed my permit (I was at the wrong, I hadn’t put the permit in the window) and brought it outside. I then asked the parking person to remove the boot. They demanded to be paid. Things got a little heated, and I then demanded that they step off my property, as they were trespassing. They left after I threatened to call the police (which I learned would have been pointless, as this would be considered a civil matter).
I then called the landlord and talked to him. Since I haven’t been a problem for him, ever, he called the boot company and had the immobilizer removed. There was a bit of a discussion since they claimed that the boot had been tampered with. I did not tamper with it mechanically, since that would have left evidence. I did attempt to slide it off the tire and I probably could have, but I didn’t bother since the landlord was dealing with the issue anyway.
I’m considering writing up a pamphlet and distributing it to the neighbors to let them know how to remove the boot themselves – let the air out of your tire, and it’ll slide right off (in most cases). I’m also considering just letting it go and hoping that they’ll calm down with their tactics after this initial rush of “enforcement”. I did hear from the landlord that they booted another residents car this morning, because the parking permit wasn’t in the right hand side of the window – it had fallen on the floor and the booters claimed they couldn’t see it.
One thing is for sure, I know they’re going to be watching me closely now, one minor victory hasn’t won the war.