RE: Wheel clamping: RIP

RE: Wheel clamping: RIP

Monday 1st October 2012

Wheel clamping: RIP

Farewell then, cowboy clampers - your power to boil our proverbial in industrial quantities has now been stripped



A new ban that came into force today means it'll be illegal to clamp, tow away or immobilise a vehicle on private land without lawful authority.

There is a small loophole in that "bodies acting in accordance with statutory or other powers" working for the likes of railway stations or airports can still clamp your car, but the blanket powers that generated stories about clamped hearses, police vehicles, AA vans and cars with the engine still running have been removed.

Owners of private land will still be able to issue penalties and now have the powers to install ticket machines to raise revenue.

But in a second victory for the driver, we can now challenge penalties at an independent appeal service.

This has been set up to mirror the appeal service already available if you think your on-street penalty was issued unfairly and it's legally binding if it finds in your favour. The only drawback is that it only applies to penalties issued by parking contractors on the British Parking Association's approved operator list.

Not everyone is happy with the ban, of course. In a statement, Angela Sheen, associate partner at chartered surveyors Johnson Fellows, said, "There is a genuine worry that the new clamping ban will encourage members of the public to park where they like, which could lead to service areas and access roads being blocked."

The company recommends owners of private land to use the services of FlashPark, which sends penalty notices to the keeper of the vehicle based solely on the evidence of a picture sent from the owner of the private land. At least FlashPark is an approved BPA operator so you can appeal.

But let's not forget, this is a good day. Share below any particularly heinous clamping stories you remember/suffered that we may exorcise the ghost what was, let's face it, a pretty ugly period in the history of civil liberties.

 

Author
Discussion

Prawnboy

Original Poster:

1,326 posts

146 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
woo-hoo!

Cerberus90

1,553 posts

212 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
[quote]
The company recommends owners of private land to use the services of FlashPark, which sends penalty notices to the keeper of the vehicle based solely on the evidence of a picture sent from the owner of the private land.

[/quote]

Would that just be another throw away one? Or a nice picture to go in your garage? biggrin

blueST

4,380 posts

215 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
I believe they can now chase the registered keeper, rather than just drivers, for fines. This means the old advice to just chuck private parking fines in the bin is no longer valid, as the registered keeper will be liable if the driver cant be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680

LordFlathead

9,641 posts

257 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
I hope the also applies to Chelsea and Westminster Council who have earned over £1.2 million pounds last year alone. My company vehicle was in the wrong bay but with a ticket displayed in the window. They PCN'd it then clamped it ten minutes later. It cost over £270 to remove and I couldn't do any business for 3 hours. The sign was obscured by overgrown trees which they said made no difference.

The Chelsea and Westminster Council is the biggest scammer now as other boroughs have since ceased clamping operations.

I had some recent links but they have dissapeared from the internet. Wonder why!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1550929/Par...

Plenty of info out there, have a read:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/vehicle_clam...

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~wjk/parking.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-108107...


BoxsterEtype

496 posts

151 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Don't forget some local authorities now issue fines on CCTV evidence Chester will issue you a fine for stopping and letting the wife out at her shop door if there are double yellow lines on the street. Thats at half seven in the morning with no other traffic in the street. Beware!!!

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
There was a clamper on the midlands local news last week stating that he welcomes the change as it take away the confrontation aspect of his business, and that he will fine unauthorised parkers £150.

What's that, double the council parking charge? .....

McSam

6,753 posts

174 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
blueST said:
I believe they can now chase the registered keeper, rather than just drivers, for fines. This means the old advice to just chuck private parking fines in the bin is no longer valid, as the registered keeper will be liable if the driver cant be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680
On private land? That's not relevant, because whether they chase the registered keeper or the driver who was responsible, it is still an attempt to levy a penalty charge, which is not permissible in any parking contract. So you will still be more than safe to ignore £60 "fines" for using a space for a couple of hours.

RacerMike

4,192 posts

210 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Housemate of mine got clamped in our parking space outside the flat (private land) for 'not displaying his parking permit' (it had fallen off the dash on to the seat). Needless to say, it didn't end well for them when it turned out the parking space is owned as part of the flat and they had no authority to clamp. WIN!

blueST

4,380 posts

215 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
McSam said:
blueST said:
I believe they can now chase the registered keeper, rather than just drivers, for fines. This means the old advice to just chuck private parking fines in the bin is no longer valid, as the registered keeper will be liable if the driver cant be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680
On private land? That's not relevant, because whether they chase the registered keeper or the driver who was responsible, it is still an attempt to levy a penalty charge, which is not permissible in any parking contract. So you will still be more than safe to ignore £60 "fines" for using a space for a couple of hours.
Sorry, I'm not up with terminology, I could well be wrong.

From reading the BBC article, it seemed to me that the rules have changed to allow them to pursue the registered keeper in the same way they have traditionally tried to get the fine from the driver. The difficulty they (the parking firms) had before was that they couldn't identify the driver, so fines could be binned by the registered keeper. Obviously, there is no such difficulty in identifying the keeper as the DVLA will dish this info out.

Madmatt74

273 posts

156 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
McSam said:
blueST said:
I believe they can now chase the registered keeper, rather than just drivers, for fines. This means the old advice to just chuck private parking fines in the bin is no longer valid, as the registered keeper will be liable if the driver cant be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680
On private land? That's not relevant, because whether they chase the registered keeper or the driver who was responsible, it is still an attempt to levy a penalty charge, which is not permissible in any parking contract. So you will still be more than safe to ignore £60 "fines" for using a space for a couple of hours.
The "contract" is between the offender and land owner. Chasing the owner of the car means nothing unless they can prove you were the offender.
Only applies to private land tho!

SmartVenom

462 posts

168 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Whilst there have obviously been many horror stories about people being clamped unfairly and the fines undoubtedly being extortionate, this change does seem to far the other way to me. What about the people who happily park in residents parking at flats because it's cheaper/easir than getting in to the car park? Or those who see office car parks as completely fair game? There are many who will now abuse this system, I for one hope the tickets do become fully enforceable, otherwise we'll have a parking free for all in parts of the country.

blueST

4,380 posts

215 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Madmatt74 said:
The "contract" is between the offender and land owner. Chasing the owner of the car means nothing unless they can prove you were the offender.
Only applies to private land tho!
The linked BBC articles says...

"But landowners are boosted by stronger laws on ticketing, which mean unpaid charges can be claimed from the keeper of the vehicle, as well as the driver."

Does that not mean they don't have to prove you were the offender?

LewisR

678 posts

214 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Are parking charges on private land still against the 1689 Bill of Rights Act then? i.e. No one can be fined unless ruled by a court of law. Isn't parking "illegally" just a breach of ciontract and therefore all that can be claimed for is damages e.g. £2/hour for the time you stayed over and also that the charges have to be in keeping with parking fees comensurate for that area e.g. £60 for going over your time limit is too expensive for what would usually be again, say £2/hour.

Ah yes, this post was left hanging and Madmatt74 had since made a similar comment!

Edited by LewisR on Monday 1st October 13:47

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
Thread title: "Qualities" should be "Quantities"
(sorry)

jonm01

817 posts

236 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
blueST said:
I believe they can now chase the registered keeper, rather than just drivers, for fines. This means the old advice to just chuck private parking fines in the bin is no longer valid, as the registered keeper will be liable if the driver cant be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680
Yup, that is going to make things worse IMO. This is going to lead to an increase in this sort of activity.

miniman

24,828 posts

261 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
blueST said:
The linked BBC articles says...

"But landowners are boosted by stronger laws on ticketing, which mean unpaid charges can be claimed from the keeper of the vehicle, as well as the driver."

Does that not mean they don't have to prove you were the offender?
My bold. Unpaid charges, not penalties.

Nick1point9

3,917 posts

179 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
BoxsterEtype said:
Don't forget some local authorities now issue fines on CCTV evidence Chester will issue you a fine for stopping and letting the wife out at her shop door if there are double yellow lines on the street. Thats at half seven in the morning with no other traffic in the street. Beware!!!
If there was CCTV of someone committing any other motoring offence it would be used as evidence....

McSam

6,753 posts

174 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
LewisR said:
Are parking charges on private land still against the 1689 Bill of Rights Act then? i.e. No one can be fined unless ruled by a court of law. Isn't parking "illegally" just a breach of ciontract and therefore all that can be claimed for is damages e.g. £2/hour for the time you stayed over and also that the charges have to be in keeping with parking fees comensurate for that area e.g. £60 for going over your time limit is too expensive for what would usually be again, say £2/hour.
Exactly this. As I said, they cannot fine you an extortionate amount as it would amount to a penalty clause in the contract, which no court would permit. Whether they can chase the registered keeper without bothering to check if they were the offender makes no difference whatsoever, and they cannot try to extort you.

Accumul8

411 posts

162 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
BoxsterEtype said:
Don't forget some local authorities now issue fines on CCTV evidence Chester will issue you a fine for stopping and letting the wife out at her shop door if there are double yellow lines on the street. Thats at half seven in the morning with no other traffic in the street. Beware!!!
Your wife needs to learn to tuck and roll.

Out of curiosity, where in Chester was this?

chrishawkins

14 posts

194 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
I am told that you can still clamp if there is a barrier/gate on the entrance to the land

However there is nothing to say the barrier/gate has to be down (open or closed) and or working.

Chris