MSE News: Wheel clamping to be banned on private land

lucylucky

bigturnip wrote: »

But it clearly does work, of course you're going to get the odd person who isn't used to the area getting clamped, in big towns and cities you are going to get people who are willing to chance it and the clampers will be there to pounce on them, but once cars start getting regularly clamped then word soon gets around people who regularly park in the area.

Even if it does, once it is banned it will become an irrelevance and alternative deterrents sought.

peter_the_piper

Clamping only works if the clamping company also plays fair and does not make them up as they go. This is a rare thing and the reason why they are about to go out of business. Even councils often get clamping and towing wrong.

bigturnip

lucylucky wrote: »

Even if it does, once it is banned it will become an irrelevance and alternative deterrents sought.

Precisely what I'm doing.

bigturnip

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Clamping only works if the clamping company also plays fair and does not make them up as they go.

I'm not condoning any of the illegal practices, and agree they need to be changed, but the process at the moment does work for landowners.

Coblcris

Scottish landowners are getting along nicely without clampers.

peter_the_piper

bigturnip wrote: »

I'm not condoning any of the illegal practices, and agree they need to be changed, but the process at the moment does work for landowners.

Does it? I'm pretty sure it works more in favour of the clampers than the owner. For instance, Car park, Driver pays for ticket, parks slightly out of line due to other bad parkers, clampers come along and do him/her. How does that help the landowner or the driver, it only lines the clampers pockets.

bigturnip

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Does it? I'm pretty sure it works more in favour of the clampers than the owner. For instance, Car park, Driver pays for ticket, parks slightly out of line due to other bad parkers, clampers come along and do him/her. How does that help the landowner or the driver, it only lines the clampers pockets.

That's a rather stupid example, obviously it's up to the landowner to work with the clamping company to set the rules, but as a deterrent of whether a car should park there or not in the first place, yes clamping does work.

If you are a business owner with a handful of spaces for your customers at the front of your shop you want to deter people from parking their cars there all day while they go off to work. Ticketing doesn't work, a handful of repeat offenders know they are unenforceable and will just keep parking there regardless.

Once clamping is outlawed landowners need a legal and practical (practicality will vary depending on the land, you can't always put barriers up or install expensive equipment) way to deter unauthorised drivers from parking on their land.

If no solution is found once this law is introduced it will just be another death knell for small businesses up and down the country, if customers can't park, the won't shop, if non-customers can't be deterred from parking then there will be no customers.

lucylucky

"That's a rather stupid example"

Would that it were however it is a perfect example of the way these scum operate.

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Clamping-complaints-drivers-stung-parking-outside-bays/article-2454414-detail/article.html

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/163-125-PARKING-FAR-WHITE-LINE/article-1289007-detail/article.html

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/4329104.Students_revolt_over_car_clamp__frenzy__at_uni/

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2010/05/27/shard-end-clamping-firm-boss-jailed-97319-26532775/

peter_the_piper

Thanks for the compliment. Its not such a stupid example, its often reported on pepipoo and others. Hopefully the government will put things in place to help the sensibible landowner and prevent excesses on both sides. As has been said many times it works north of the border so if they look there for how its done as well as getting the council to step in (as has already been suggested) then all should be well.

TheBogsDollocks

A knee height wall or fence around the perimeter of a car park with a gap wide enough for vehicles to pass but with access controlled by a bollard or barrier arm is not an expensive solution and will not require much maintenence. A wall would not even need be continuous but just brick pillars every 2m (so a vehcile cannot pass between) to reduce costs. Solutions are out there.

http://www.barriersdirect.co.uk/