I heard a long time ago that there is no wheel clamping in France.

That's because whenever anyone saw a clamped car, the French people acted as a nation to put a stop to it by squirting a blob of superglue into the lock of the clamp.

Sometimes you have to admire the French.

I'm not advocating vandalism here (like the damaging of cars when being towed away by Simple, for example), but... oh sod it, let's glue the clamps

Which of course the jammed the clamp on the car.

meaning the clamper was unable to remove, meaning they could not really accept the money to remove it as they could not.

unless they chopped off their own lock = costs.

They must have been using clamps with intergrated locks?

The whole point is that the only way they could get the clamps off was to break them.

They aren't going to try to remove the clamp until the customer has paid. Once they have paid, they try and remove the clamp but can't cos it's glued. The clamper has to break the clamp to release the 'customer', who doesn't know anything about the clamp being glued. In all likelihood they didn't because lots of people in France were glueing clamps.

I've got a 24pack superglue which I thought will run out of date

Brilliant idea!!!

Now I thought this was going to be along the lines of "Why are there no war heroes in Italy?"

Go to Google UK.

Enter "french military victories"

Click on - I'm Feeling Lucky.

dam still searching after 4 hours , and no results found

Ulm and Austerlitz ? among many.

I think it's just googles little joke...

It's not Google, it's a redirect to a spoof site (look at the address bar).

It's also deeply insulting to people in France whose loved ones have died in conflict.

(and it's also inaccurate as battle for battle, the French have won more than any other nation, according to Stephen Fry on QI)

Signed: Someone who doesn't really care about being French and the greatness or lack thereof of her native country, but doesn't like the efforts of most of her male close relatives to be rubbished in such a manner.

I believe there is also a correlation between gun ownership and the number of speed cameras in the US

It appears that us Brits are not always so apathetic either when it comes to parking charges: Signs vandalised and more and meters and ticket machines

Satisfying as it is to read about such action, I believe results should be achieved by legal action and peaceful demonstration as practiced by the NoToBikeParkingTax protestors.

I think speed cameras would have a harder time if more people played paintball.

The reason why there are no wheel clampers in France, is that they are practising the 'Henry move', how to handle the ball with your hands.

The reason why there are no wheel clampers in France, is that they are practising the 'Henry move', how to handle the ball with your hands.

I think speed cameras would have a harder time if more people played paintball.

I have noticed the odd paintball splat on Gatsos

I was expecting a punchline about French cars immobilising themselves by breaking down

 

(and it's also inaccurate as battle for battle, the French have won more than any other nation, according to Stephen Fry on QI)

 

...but not against England. The decisive English victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo possibly set the scene for two hundred years of banter (though Shakespeare's description of Agincourt probably helped). Even though they were defeated, the French fought bravely, and were respected for it.

France has done well in battle because it was involved in so many conflicts. France was a major colonial power (no egalité or liberté for some countries), and its influence lingers in much of Africa and Indo-China, thanks in no small part to its military.

French soldiers fought bravely in World War 1, but were not very effectively led. In the Second World war the French Army was outclassed, and France surrendered to Germany. Marshal Petain and the Vichy government collaborated with the Nazis and this is a stain on France's history.

Whilst Britain was busy giving independence to its colonies, France held on - in particular to Algeria, which led to all sorts of unpleasantness. The battle of Dien Bien Phu was a significant defeat for France, and led to the Vietnam war.

I have had the pleasure of working with the French military on a number of occasions, most recently in Afghanistan earlier this year. They are highly professional and good allies. The Legion Étrangère are particularly impressive, and very French, though not all members are French.

Did the French glue wheelclamps? It sounds fairly typical of their approach to things. In Bosnia the Serbs were often quite belligerent and liked to wave their rifles at NGO staff. I heard a story (possibly apocryphal), that when the Serbs at a checkpoint near Sarajevo went a little too far with some French aid workers, the checkpoint was visited at dead of night by the Foreign Legion (who were guarding the airport), and the Serbs awoke to find that the working parts had been removed, as they slept, from their rifles. No UN rules broken, no diplomatic incident, and the FFL reputation enhanced.

So, Bookie, your country has lots to be proud of, but:

Vive les Aristos!