[wordup] If anyone can, Angle-Grinder Man can

[Adam Shand]

Via: The Eristocracy <Eristocracy at merrymeet.com>

[Editor's note: Click link for pictures, they were worth seeing. --
jdcc]

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/international/europe/07LOND.html
More: http://www.anglegrinderman.com/

Car Owners' Hero Dresses for the Job
By SARAH LYALL

Published: October 7, 2003

LONDON, Oct. 2 — As is so often the case, the trickiest part came when
he had to explain himself to his family.

"I got kind of a lukewarm response," said the masked Englishman who
calls himself Angle-Grinder Man and who  has been trawling London for
four months dressed in a homemade superhero outfit, complete with gold
lamé underpants and cape, removing the security boots from people's
illegally parked cars.

"Any parent who gets a phone call from his son saying, `Oh, you might
see me in the newspaper; I'm a superhero wheel clamp vigilante' — it
might take them a little while to formulate their views," he said in an
interview.

As a one-man vigilante force, Angle-Grinder Man, who takes his name
from the boot-destroying circular saw he wields, has made only a modest
impact: by his own estimates, he has freed about 20 cars so far (he
does it only part time). But his campaign against the city's effort to
immobilize cars for parking violations and other infractions has
touched a nerve in a city of strict parking regulations, zealous
traffic police officers, ubiquitous speed cameras and car owners
increasingly aggrieved at what they believe is mean-spirited law
enforcement.

Although he hardly melts into the background, particularly when he
switches on his noisy machine, Angle-Grinder Man has so far managed to
elude the authorities by a mixture of luck, cunning and quick work:
once he gets going, he can liberate a car in less than a minute. He
does not accept money and says his main  motivation is "anger at how
politicians in this country treat people in general, but particularly
in regard to motoring regulations."

Needless to say, the police are not amused. "Both Angle-Grinder Man and
the owner of the vehicle could be charged with criminal damage if the
driver admitted they consented to the act," a  Scotland Yard spokesman
told The Evening Standard.

Interviewed in the London office of The New York Times , Angle-Grinder
Man was coy about his civilian identity. He said he had been threatened
and harassed, mostly by private  outfits that charge for removing the
clamping devices. He is  currently unemployed, but living on the
savings he has accumulated from jobs that have reportedly included
office clerk and entertainer at children's parties.

Long-haired and lanky, he is becoming well known in some parts of south
London. About a month ago, 25-year-old Petite Tendai arrived home to
find a boot on her illegally parked car. ("There were no signs saying
`no parking,' " she declared.) She had barely begun to rail at the
injustice of it all when Angle-Grinder Man suddenly appeared.

"Basically, he jumped out of his car in his outfit and said, `If anyone
can, Angle-Grinder Man can,' "  Ms. Tendai said in a telephone
interview. "Then he just started sawing it off. It was wicked."  He was
gone almost as quickly as he came. "It was just a `good luck,' and
what-not, and then he was off," she said.

Angle-Grinder Man was spurred to activism  when his car was booted and
he was told that it would cost £95 (a little over $150)  to free it. "I
was fuming inside," he said. He rented a circular saw for about £30
and did the job himself. He taped a photograph of  the sawed-up clamp
to his windshield, along with a note saying,  "Please don't clamp me
because I've got an extremely sensitive nature."

The sign proved a hit, although he had to remove it, he said, "when a
guy on a motorbike in traffic nearly fell off his bike, he was laughing
so hard." But Angle-Grinder Man knew he was on to something. "There was
so much injustice out there," he said.

It took him some time to hone his look, and he rejected a number of
color schemes before settling on blue and gold. "There's no school you
can go to to learn how to be a superhero," he said. Perhaps most
crucially, he found the perfect roll of gold lamé fabric at a flea
market ("I had to hold it up and ask the girl how much did she think I
would need to make a cape," he said).

For the boots, he spray-painted a pair of cowboy boots gold. The
underpants are a pair of bikini briefs covered with the flea-market
lamé.  The gloves came from a piercing-and-fetish shop. Angle-Grinder
Man designed the logo himself, proudly gluing the letters "AGM" onto
the costume.  "I wanted to have a balance between the political side
and the comedy side," he said.

His Web site and his  hot line for distressed car owners have drawn
hoax messages, threats and dozens of fan notes, including one from a
man who noted approvingly,  "It's time we had a gay superhero."

For the record, "I'm a heterosexual superhero," Angle-Grinder Man said,
"although I have no problem being a gay icon."

After the interview was over, Angle-Grinder Man strode into the street
in full regalia, wheeling the suitcase full of civilian clothes he
planned to wear on the train home later. Watching his gold cape glitter
and swirl heroically in the afternoon light, Judith Smith, a sales
clerk who said she had been following Angle-Grinder Man's exploits on
his Web site, pronounced herself a big fan.

"I think he's extraordinarily attractive," Ms. Smith said. "Especially
the golden knickers."


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