Curb ’em British Cowboy Clampers! British media battles against outrageous parking enforcement practices
(Source: Mail Online, UK)
Today the Daily Mail demands action against the menace of cowboy wheel clampers.
The industry rakes in almost £1billion a year from motorists parked on private land and has been described as ‘legalised mugging’.
Clampers routinely charge £500 penalties, tow away cars, prey on the vulnerable and are often paid on commission, encouraging them to immobilise as many vehicles as possible. But despite the extraordinary power they wield, those working on private land in England and Wales are completely unregulated and their victims have no right of independent appeal.
The Mail, supported by motoring groups and MPs, is calling for an end to this unfairness by bringing the law for parking on private land in line with that for public roads, including the introduction of a maximum limit for penalties.
Image Courtesy: Mail Online - Suggested legislative changes to curb the growing clamping problem
Experts say the major flaw in the current regime is that the company which issued the penalty in the first place is allowed to act as judge and jury in the case – unlike on public roads, where an appeal can be made to an independent tribunal.
The clampers can charge whatever they like and are even allowed to exploit the Government’s supposedly confidential DVLA database to find drivers’ names and addresses at £2.50 a time.
It has led to clamping becoming a boom industry. Between March 2008 and April 2009, the number of licensed clampers rocketed by a staggering 58 per cent – from 1,200 to 1,900.
Instead, when ministers publish their clamping Bill later this year, the Mail calls for the legislation to include:
• An independent tribunal to hear appeals by motorists who are clamped on private land.
• Maximum penalties for infringements on private land to be brought in line with those on private road.
• A ban on towing away a vehicle unless it is posing a danger, blocking access or has been abandoned.
• Prohibition of offering incentives to private clampers, based on how many motorists are issued with penalty charges.
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it is hugely disappointing nothing has been done to date! I think a lot of people are thoroughly fed up with these cowboy clampers now. I read over in the car news that if the Tories get into power they would have a big “clampdown” on them http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/asp/index.asp?lnk=113_1&id=839 They are certainly trying to keep motorists on board in run up to the election eh!?