MSE News: Wheel clamping to be banned on private land

AlexisV

You mean like when everybody was out murdering in 1965 when the death penalty was abolished?

davidgmmafan

"All I said about clamping is that some companies are over zealous, if this is the case then it is up to the land owner to get rid of them and hire a new company."


Minor point but they don't hire the companies, the only people benefitting from this financially if the clampers. Perhaps if they had to actually had to put in a tender and you know behave like any normal business does they their names wouldn't be in the mud.

Also I really can't understand all this fuss about people locking car parks. If I go into a car park which says it is locked at X time and won't be opened till the morning I am a fool and deserve to be incovenienced. The difference is there's no extortion going on, it would be the same in a multi story. If it shuts I can't expect the owner to come and open it up, its just my hard luck.

Instead of vaguely referring to Scotland can we have some info about what they actually can/do do?

I see no reason why a new law can't be passed allowing tickets, its all just speculation at this stage. Even the ban may be fudged, although politicians would get a lot of heat if they did.

lucylucky

There is one car retail car park I use which is free. It opens at 0600 and closes at 2300. Gates closed outwith these times. I have seen a couple of cars in the car park overnight.

I once saw a guy who had parked in a car dealership on a Sunday, to go to an event nearby, who was somewhat distraught to find that by the time he had come back the place had closed and barriers put across the exit. He found a rock and tried to smash the lock. Two passing policemen, from the cop shop across the road, took him away and presumably ruined the rest of his evening.

Hadeon

bigturnip wrote: »

"The other cars in Crawley, West Sussex, were unclamped five hours later when the parking firm realised their error.

Is this because the Sun had got hold of the story?

A spokesman for Aspire said: "The officer there can not just release vehicles.

And why not???

There is a procedure." But Moat apologised and promised full refunds.

Yeah right, Big Deal! Let's see how quickly these refunds materialise, if at all.

I guess that's ok then, several motorists having their vehicles held to ransom for 5 hours with God knows what attendant inconvenience, all for the terrible misdemeanour of parking their own vehicles on their own property.

This is one of so many examples as to exactly why clamping is being, & should be banned.

As for small businesses, they really should get their act together & spend some time & a little money to address their individual problems to deter inconsiderate & selfish motorists.

Kite2010

trisontana wrote: »

There was even that case of a clamping company suing somebody for "loss of earning". This was because that person had put up a sign in his Indian take-way warning people not to park on an adjacent piece of land, otherwise they would be clamped. So a clear admission that the whole things a money-making exercise and nothing to do with stopping unauthorised parking.

And the piece of land is used for a solicitor's firm!

TheBogsDollocks

bigturnip wrote: »

Yep, they will be the big losers if clamping is banned, but the big losers, if no new legislation is forthcoming or ill thought out legislation is passed, will be small businesses who will have to consign there car parks to history.

A small business owner that only has a couple of parking spaces to protect will I'm sure possess the acumen to arrange a way of protecting said parking spaces. There's more parking consultants and access control providers now than at any time in this nations history so if any business owner finds it too challenging a task to solve then they can seek professional help from them.

I expect the law will make provision to enable private parking enforcement without the need to clamp. The BPA are in talks with Mr Normam Baker MP and others about solutions, one possibility is to change the law so that the vehicle owner becomes liable rather than the driver so as to bring private enforcement more in line with local authority enforcement. It's early days yet but keep your eye on press releases in the coming months. The parking industry is too mighty and influential to simply not require a compromise from Govt.

bigturnip

Hadeon wrote: »

I guess that's ok then, several motorists having their vehicles held to ransom for 5 hours with God knows what attendant inconvenience, all for the terrible misdemeanour of parking their own vehicles on their own property.

This is one of so many examples as to exactly why clamping is being, & should be banned.

As for small businesses, they really should get their act together & spend some time & a little money to address their individual problems to deter inconsiderate & selfish motorists.

Look at the way you have split the quote out in the article, you seem to be getting mixed up between Aspire the clamping company and Moat the landowner, of course the landowner is likely to be as good as their word and give refunds, as for the clamping company, who knows?

It was the landowner's mistake for not issuing new permits, they have held their hands up and are trying to put it right, I don't know what the clamping company are meant to have done wrong.

Hadeon

bigturnip wrote: »

Look at the way you have split the quote out in the article, you seem to be getting mixed up between Aspire the clamping company and Moat the landowner, of course the landowner is likely to be as good as their word and give refunds, as for the clamping company, who knows?

Please be assured that I am not/was not 'getting mixed up' between the two.

It was the landowner's mistake for not issuing new permits, they have held their hands up and are trying to put it right,

It was also the PPC's 'mistake' (sic) for clamping 15 residents vehicles when a 'start date for parking restrictions had not been agreed'.

I don't know what the clamping company are meant to have done wrong.

Allow me to explain.......the following is the entire article with salient points highlighted & emphasised.

A HEAVILY pregnant woman was left stranded by clampers who targeted her car - in its own marked bay outside her home.

Tanya Roberts, 27, woke to find her Honda CR-Vwas among 15 vehicles disabled overnight by a parking enforcement firm.

The residents were all waiting for new parking permits from their housing association. Anda start date for parking restrictions had not been agreed.

But Aspire Parking Solutions - working for the Moat association -clamped their vehicles anyway and demanded a £150 fine in cash. And if owners failed to pay they were told the bill would rise by £30 a day.

Tanya, fearing she would be unable to get to hospital,told the clampers they had made a mistake. When they refused to help, she reluctantly paid up.

She said: "I have a high-risk pregnancy, I might need my car at any moment. There's no way I could manage without it." The other cars in Crawley, West Sussex,were unclamped five hours later when the parking firm realised their error.

A spokesman for Aspire said: "The officer there can not just release vehicles. There is a procedure." But Moat apologised and promised full refunds.

The Government is to soon ban clampers from operating on private land.

BTW, what point were you making in your post at #489?

peter_the_piper

I think the point he's trying to make is that once the wonderful clamping firm realised that they had made a mistake then they corrected it.
I think he is forgetting that clamping is a blunt instrument with no room for consideration or discretion and only rarely accceptance of error. Had they not been so greedy and only clamped one or two then its likely that the victims would have paid up without much fuss. Again it seems that greed costs them money.

Spartacus_Mills

bigturnip wrote: »

Yep, they will be the big losers if clamping is banned, but the big losers, if no new legislation is forthcoming or ill thought out legislation is passed, will be small businesses who will have to consign there car parks to history.

Don't be such a drama queen. Scotland has a system which works. The rest of the UK had a system which worked prior to clamping. Once clamping is outlawed there is hardly likely to be a free for all.

How on earth are small businesses going to be losers ? You whine constantly but have not demonstrated how they are going to lose. Do you have proof that their car parks will be constantly abused ?