Cowboy wheel clampers are to be banned from operating on private land in England and Wales.
to be announced tomorrow.................
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About time, I'm lead to believe that the clampers pounce on you as soon as you leave your car in a area with very minimal or no signage which is wrong but it's been illegal in Scotland for ages it's about time we where brought into line
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one wonders how it can be that scotland has different laws to ours.
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>> one wonders how it can be that scotland has different laws to ours.
>> Different country old chap, until handout time comes round again (tin hat on awaiting incoming.....)
I was aware that clamping is illegal in Scotland; however, recent perusal of a clampers warning notice (think it was in Swansea) indicated that the company operated from a Scottish address. Wondered at the time about the legitimacy of this.
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A good thing for those of us who respect others property and don't treat any and every bit of ground thats not fenced off as our own car park.
Don't get me wrong i despise shaven headed thugs demanding money with menaces as much as anyone, but some people have been driven to desperation by indiscriminate parking on their land, clampers in some cases reluctantly being their only resort.
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Block in the inconsiderate bartenders and take your time letting them leave. Simple and effective.
Don't park here again stickers are also another solution. Especially if you clean the glass well before sticking them on as then they're even more of a swine to remove :-)
If local authorities didn't charge extortionate rates and double yellow anywhere anyone actually wanted to park you'd find that parking on private land would reduce. It is probably because there is literally nowhere in some towns that isn't expensive. I don't bother going into the nearest towns now. If you get a parking fine for being slightly over a bay (they're too narrow) then that is at least a £25 quid fine which is a lot of internet delivery. This attitude is why town centres are dying and everyone shops out of town which has plenty of free parking. Although sadly the mealy mouthed attitude is also going on in some of those as a friend of mine had a ticket for a diy shed overstay. He won't shop there again so they've lost more than the fine (which will be ignored anyway) .
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>> Block in the inconsiderate bartenders and take your time letting them leave. Simple and effective.
When I rented a flat in Luton, I got home to find that I could not park in the drive as a neighbour had told their visitor to park in it. So I parked in the driveway, preventing their exit. They did knock at the door, and plead, but after an hour I moved my car, and they scarpered. Never occured again. Odd that. I think no-one condones parking on someone else's property, but fleecing someone for the 'privilige' is out of order. What is so wrong with a clearly displayed warning, and a £30 fine?
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>> I think no-one condones parking on someone else's property, but fleecing
>> someone for the 'privilige' is out of order. What is so wrong with a clearly
>> displayed warning, and a £30 fine?
>>
The problem is that many people do condone it, and do park on other peoples property. I see no reason why they should not be fleeced, never happened to me and never will.
As Lord Deming famously said the law is not intended to prevent a fool from being parted from his money.
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if youve never not been in a is it safe to park here in the middle of nowhere situation without the fear of being clamped yhen you are not true road users but merely bagatel players in the motorway sprawls of our lives
nicked from oilrag.........................
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I disagree, BB... there is always an alternative....
Just it may involve using those appendiges we all have.... called legs! ;-)
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Private clamping is a disgrace. It should never have been allowed. It's never happened to me, but the public version is quite bad enough thanks.
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>> Private clamping is a disgrace. It should never have been allowed.
Agreed , but I wonder why it has gone on so long, when our Neighbours in Scotland have had it outlawed for a while now.
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I thoroughly approve of private clamping; an Englishman's home is his castle, and any man who tramples thereupon should pay the price.
It is somewhat less than convenient if you want to park somewhere you are entitled to park, and somebody not so entitled has already got there.
Arguably the fines should be restricted by statute.
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I have a suspicion this will not all be good news and that the legisaltion will include something allowing more effective enforcement by charges etc.
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>> I thoroughly approve of private clamping; an Englishman's home is his castle, and any man
>> who tramples thereupon should pay the price.
Fully agree, BUT, like your castle you should secure it so no-one can invade your bailey.
Even in medieval times, holding people to ransom was illegal and only those bearing arms or raising armies were able to do it.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 17 Aug 10 at 12:26
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>>Fully agree, BUT, like your castle you should secure it so no-one can invade your bailey.
I note that the Government says that you should put up a barrier. But that isn't really a practical solution in many circumstances. e.g. a petrol station in Inner London with a dozen parking spaces. It has now become free parking for shoppers. Whom does that benefit, save for the selfish?
Meanwhile, if you park in Westminster on a resident's parking space, you will probably be towed away within minutes and it will cost you £250 (ish). There doesn't appear to be much balance.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 17 Aug 10 at 12:29
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Slot in posts cost peanuts, costs recouped in a weeks parking fees.
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This is being discussed on our local BBC radio phone in this morning and opened out into a wider discussion about parking and there were somei interesting callers on the subject of parking/clamping/towing etc.
1. One chap phoned in to vent his annoyance that his car had been towed, he had parked accross a private driveway (the owner had called police when he couldn't get his car out of the driveway). The caller was indignant and the fact that "There was nowhere else to park and it was only 20 minutes" seemed to him sufficient justification to park there.
2.Another caller owned a small business workshop and arrived one morning to find a local resident had parked accross the workshop doors - he couldn't get one of his vans out, not wanting to make too much fuss he waited, and waited...after 48 hours he called police who arranged for the car to be towed.
The car owner then turned up accusing the workshop owner of being a "bad neighbour" !
I don't like the thugs who hold people to ransom - but it seemed many more people calling in had been the victim of thoughless and indiscriminate parking than had actually suffered at the hands of rogue clampers.
J
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Leif
are you the Leif I was thinking of when I started this thread the other week ?
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=5&t=2246
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Mapmaker seemed to have the most sensible answer:
"Arguably the fines should be restricted by statute"
I too heard some of the discussion on the Beeb, and it was clear that not all premises can put up a barrier, and then there's misuse of carparks as well... there has to be some control and the above suggestion seems to be the most sensible... For instance I'm not allowed by the deeds to put up any sort of fence across my front garden so in theory anyone could just park on there without me being able to prevent them... where's the justice in that?!
It strikes me that the Gov have just taken the easiest option by just doing away with them altogether rather than controlling them better... I suspect this decission is going to cause major grief shortly...
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>> I suspect this decission is going to cause major grief shortly...
I agree. I am all for repeal, but the ability to restrict vehicles on private property by clamping is essential in this overcrowded island.
In the example I gave of a petrol station, they cannot put up a barrier to restrict entry onto the site, but they can stop you from spending all day in one of their parking spaces by the threat of clamping.
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One of the Labour gov's last actions was to legislate for tighter licensing for clampers and for a proper appeals system. All the coalition need to do is commence that legislation.
They can always promise a review in two years time?
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Oh grow up folks, when clamping on private land was banned in Scotland 20 years ago it was not the end of civilisation and the world did not stop rotating. The clampers seem to be squealing the loudest, that must tell you something.
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I haven't heard any clampers squealing yet, but I've seen many worried people who have private car parks such as for blocks of flats, etc... What do the Scots do in those situations if they can't barrier them - free for all?
Last edited by: hobby on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 09:08
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>>I haven't heard any clampers squealing yet>>
There was a spokesman from a clamping company or association on the TV news last night, predicting doom, gloom, and chaos, DVLA going broke, and that they would have to resort to "fines". I didn't think companies could issue fines, and I doubt that civil proceedings would be cost effective.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 09:36
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I didn't see him, ON, just the flat owners and shop owners... I couldn't care less about the likes of him, though I do have concerns for the former!
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>>clamping on private land was banned in Scotland 20 years ago
I didnt realise it was as long ago as that..... learn something new everyday.
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You can't clamp someone... however, there's nothing stopping you from dumping something big, heavy, and immobile behind their car and blocking them in. I suffered this problem from commuters parking in a private space.
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So what happens in private car parks for a block of flats, for instance? I know there are lots up there, with numbered spaces, etc, what do they do?
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>> So what happens in private car parks for a block of flats, for instance? I
>> know there are lots up there, with numbered spaces, etc, what do they do?
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Lots of big scary civil penalty signs. In The shopping center car parks there are attendants electronically logging registration numbers, exceed the (usually) two hour limit and civil proceedings result.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 09:40
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Down here if they try that we're told to just ignore it (re other threads on "parking fines")... is Scottish Law different in these cases?
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Scotland doesn't have the space shortage we have down here. You can park for pennies on the streets, can't you? (Here it's £5 or more per hour for meter parking.)
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>> Scotland doesn't have the space shortage we have down here.>>
Yes, our parking is horrific, we even get the occasional visitor parking in our road. At the moment the house two along on the opposite side are having an extension built, two transit vans parked on the road, but the skip is on their drive, I drove the length of the road a few minutes ago, (100+ houses), the transits are the only vehicles parked on the road at the moment. The rail station and hospital are both five minutes walk away and both have plenty of free parking. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 18 Aug 10 at 11:17
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I have great sympathy for owners of private land on which people park illegally. How are the land owners supposed to stop or deter the parking?
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 19 Aug 10 at 07:29
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>> I have great sympathy for owners of private land on which people park illegally. How
>> are the land owners supposed to stop or deter the parking?
>>
I don't know the answer to that one, however it does not seem to be a problem even in the urban areas of Scotland, and yes we do have cities up here.
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Your cities (and towns for that matter) are pretty compact compared to English ones, ON. I suspect that you have a lot less "waste" land in them than we have in England, which means less places for people to park on illegally... I recently visited the West End of Glasgow where I lived in the 80s and it was noticable that there was very little "free" land, it was either buildings or roads... It also means that people will walk/bus/train rather than use the car...
As I asked before, though, I'd be interested how people cope when people park in private car parks such as ones for flats (I remember several blocks in Edinburgh that had private parking)... Does anyone have any anecdotes? Or is everyone much better behaved north of the border?!
Last edited by: hobby on Thu 19 Aug 10 at 09:00
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>> Or is everyone much better behaved north
>> of the border?!
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Of course we are !
Life is more laid back than the up tight south. :-)
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Except when on the M80 through Glasgow... from that recent thread?! ;-)
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>> Except when on the M80 through Glasgow... from that recent thread?! ;-)
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Can you point me in the right direction, I have been out of touch for a while.
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Glad I'm not the only one who can get lost on the M8 through Glasgow:)
Pat
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Behave yourself Pat, I was in Norway. Nothing wrong with the M8 once you crack the lane 3 sliproads. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 19 Aug 10 at 16:16
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And the lack of room beneath it to turn a 45' trailer round the stilts it stands on!
Of course the jocks in frocks never give an inch:)
Pat
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>> Of course the jocks in frocks never give an inch:)
>>
>> Pat
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I can think of several places you wouldn't get out of alive for saying that, a few extremists would have an instant sense of humour failure.
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Keep me south of Gretna please:)
I once told a welsh speaking Goods In manager at NHS Llanelli that he was British...................he didn't like that either, so he made me back in on the blind side:)
Pat
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>> I have great sympathy for owners of private land on which people park illegally. How
>> are the land owners supposed to stop or deter the parking?
>>
As managers of private land/estates, our Company had similar thoughts. Apparently the Police are to be given powers to remove unauthorised cars from private property. Alternatively owners of said property are expected to install gates/barriers (not always practical, of course).
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Maybe clampers will diversify and offer beleagured land owners a dragging service where they move unauthorised parked cars off their property.
Does the clampdown on clamping cover the removal of offending vehicles without being clamped?
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>> Apparently the Police are to
>> be given powers to remove unauthorised cars from private property.
As if they haven't enough to do already! Perhaps they could employ the out of work clampers to do it on their behalf...
Only joking...
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Cowboy clampers to be outlawed - Redviper
