A man whose car was illegally parked in Dublin city centre yesterday drove his car off the tow truck which was taking it away, injuring a clamping official.
Gardaí are investigating the incident, which happened in the afternoon on Pembroke Street.
The man's navy-blue 1990 car was being secured on a tow truck by Control Plus employees when two men emerged from a pub and ran towards it.
One of them first tried to remove the braces connecting the car's wheels to the truck's base. When this failed, he jumped into the car, despite protests from the clamping officials.
He swiftly reversed the car off the truck, damaging the front of his car.
As he did this, one of the large steel braces hit a clamping official on the back.
The man drove off in the direction of St Stephen's Green while his companion ran towards Baggot Street.
An ambulance and fire engine quickly arrived at the scene.
A Control Plus spokesman could not be contacted last night but gardaí said the man's injuries were "slight".
Ms Lorna Cronnelly saw the incident from her office on Pembroke Street.
"We couldn't believe it. We saw the car being clamped and then we saw the men running from the pub and before we knew it the clamper was on the ground."
A Garda spokesman said the incident was under investigation and pointed out that Control Plus had the details of the car's registration.
This was not the first time someone had tried to defy clamping officials. Last month, when clampers returned to a car on North Great George's Street, only the clamped wheel remained.
Apparently the driver had removed the wheel, put on a spare wheel and driven away.
