The freedom bill makes a small step in the right direction.
Half a million people are victims of rogue clampers every year, according to the Home Office, costing motorists an estimated £55million.
The gangs often target spaces where signs warning against parking are small or unclear and block drivers in place giving them no option to pay an average of £112 or have their car left clamped or even towed away.
Under the new Bill, the clampers will face an unlimited fine and a criminal record they would have to declare to future potential employers. Towing away from private land will also be banned.
Instead, landowners will have to erect barriers or charge set fees. Train stations and supermarket car parks will be included in the legislation.
Despite the apparent contradiction on property rights, this is a good thing. These people are not only engaging in criminal extortion out of all proportion to the inconvenience suffered by the landowner, but there are other, more reasonable means of managing the problem besides trespass against the vehicle owner.
The Bill will also reverse rules on the storage of the DNA profiles of an estimated 1.1m innocent people and replaced by different, as yet unspecified, controls.
Good. Now immediately remove all existing records held on innocent people.
Powers which allowed councils to intrude into people’s home lives in sometimes bizarre ways will also be changed, including the rules that allowed local authorities to check what was in homeowners’ bins, to ensure their refridgerators were sufficiently eco-friendly and to check that “unregulated hypnotism” was not taking place.
Excellent, but I’m sure that there are plenty more that can be scrapped.
Extra restrictions will also be placed on the use of the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which has been used by councils to spy on residents’ behaviour.
Again, good, but not anything like good enough. RIPA should never have been put in the hands of council prodnoses at all. The power should be removed in its entirety.
So, on balance, one small step in the right direction. We need to see a few giant leaps before we are convinced.
I am assuming the ban on clampers will not include the DVLA?
No. This is private firms clamping on private property as I understand it.
With all due respect (yeah, right) to the DVLA – clamping and tow-away is clearly signposted on public roads where it applies.
“These people are not only engaging in criminal extortion out of all proportion to the inconvenience suffered by the landowner, but there are other, more reasonable means of managing the problem besides trespass against the vehicle owner.”
I have long agreed with this line of argument. Until, that is, I saw a letter that gave a real life example. It was from a chap who tries to run the residents association or similar for a block of flats. This has a dedicated parking area as it on a busy road close to the centre of the town. usual problem – people park there to avoid being charged elsewhere and this really does cause big inconvenience for the residents of the flats. Employing a private clamper presents a serious disincentive to do so.
That’s that side. What other solutions do you have in mind?
North of the border we have private ticketing companies, their tickets aren’t enforcable in Scottish law but enough people seem to not know that its an effective method of controlling resident and private parking.
If not that, the council in what ever area would no doubt love the extra revenue, they could send their moped attendants round every now and again. A £40 fine is much better than some unregulated ££££ fine enforced by a person with no neck.
I am indeed fortunate enough to live 35 miles away from a motorway. The ‘other locals’, the local rag and the local Business Quango Furness Enterprise constantly whine that this is makes us ‘isolated’ and we need a bridge across the bay costing billions just so they can be five minutes nearer the motorway but I love it.
Reason being cowboy clampers spend a fortune putting up their cameras and signs but their boys have to be home to clock off and home is miles away in Manchester. So if clamped on any of the local shed car parks simply wait until 4-00 pm and the cowboys remove all clamps.
They made the mistake of leaving one on overnight once and it was cut off with a buzz saw!
Those clamps are expensive don’t you know!
PG – who owns the flats? If it is council property, Paul’s solution is probably the best one. Clamping has two downsides; it is trespass against the vehicle and while waiting for the clamp to be removed merely exacerbates the problem.
The real biggie has always been the extortionate charges levied combined with an inability to indulge in any flexibility whatsoever when challenged. The kind of fixed penalty notice that parking companies issue at railway stations (circa £30 – £40) is more in line with the penalty matching the offence and does not deprive the vehicle owner the use of their vehicle.
Depending on the circumstances, a barrier entry system might be more appropriate.
I get the feeling the Cobbleition’s heart really isn’t in it. Maybe if it was easier than this but it’s turning out to be quite a lot of work for them and various people are screaming at them: “Not us! Not our rules and regulations – we worked too hard to get them out of Tony and Gordon.” They made noises before the election and while the Cobbleition was put together, but now they see what’s involved more clearly they’d prefer to just muddle along and hope everybody who wanted them to make good on the liberties promises will settle for a bone thrown in their vague direction.
Problem with cutting off a clamp is getting done for criminal damage. There were a few garages that offered a clamp removal sevice that did not damage the clamp. Generally the price was a bit more than the parking fine, but many seemed to think the principles involved justified the extra cost.
Not the biggest fan of the hells arseholes, but had to laugh when cowboy clampers pounced on a woman who had a relative in the local chapter. A number of them turned up and the cowboys were “invited” to remove the clamp and leave town immediately. The whole incident took about 10 minutes.
It depends on the clamp as to how easy it is to remove without damage. Yes, I would pay more than the fine to a garage out of principle. Another option is to take the clamp making it difficult to prove criminal damage. Without the evidence, it is difficult to prove theft as well – as long as there is no CCTV…
My sympathy for the landowner evaporates when they employ clamping firms.
There’s ALWAYS cctv. Welcome back to Blighty LR.
The garages I mention would always drop the clamp back at the clamping location as part of the service to avoid theft charges.