Clamp cowboys costing drivers £55m a year

Cowboy clampers are costing drivers up to £55m every year, according to Government figures.

The data, released as the Government moves this week to make wheel-clamping on private land a criminal offence, will fuel fears that rogue operators have been extorting millions of pounds from unsuspecting motorists.

But some critics, including the British Parking Association (BPA), yesterday accused the Government of creating “a charter for the selfish parker”, giving drivers the freedom to park wherever they want.

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Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said: “For too long motorists have fallen victim to extortion and abuse from rogue clamping companies. I have been outraged by cases of drivers being frog-marched to cash points late at night or left stranded by rogue operators who have towed their vehicle away. Clearly this is unacceptable.

“By criminalising clamping and towing on private land this Government is committing rogue clampers to history and putting an end to intimidation and excessive charges once and for all.”

Legislation to be announced this week follows years of protests over cases including teacher Colin Towers, who was forced to walk to a cash machine in Doncaster twice to get his car released despite just having had both his hips replaced.

Former House of Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd was among the victims of infamous clamping firm Carstoppers in Haworth, West Yorkshire, the “winner” of the RAC Dick Turpin Award for the nation’s worst clamper in 2003 and a cause for concern among local traders who have claimed its over-zealous approach puts tourists off from returning to the town.

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Keighley and Ilkley Tory MP Kris Hopkins said: “Local authority-controlled car parks currently operate under relatively tight controls, whilst the legislative requirements for private car park owners are much less onerous.

“I will support any measures which will seek to restrict the practices of unscrupulous wheel clampers, who frequently cause such misery for local residents and tourists in my constituency.”

Evidence from England and Wales showed around 500,000 clampings take place annually on private land with an average release fee of £112 and 98 per cent of fees being paid as drivers want to get their vehicles back, the Home Office said.

In one case highlighted by campaigners last year, a nurse was clamped while visiting a patient and told to pay £350 for her car to be released.

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For every hour payment was delayed, another £50 was added to the bill.

One driver, Haroon Zafaryab, 27, stayed in his car for 30 hours to escape £4,000 of penalty tickets from a clamping firm and prevent his vehicle being towed away.

Mr Zafaryab had all four wheels clamped in Wembley, north London, before he managed to agree a £100 release fee.

Previous efforts to curb unscrupulous clampers have failed and England and Wales are behind Scotland which introduced a ban nearly two decades ago.

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The new measures will be introduced later this week in the Government’s Protection of Freedoms Bill. Once in force, it will mean only police or councils will be allowed to immobilise or remove a car in exceptional circumstances, such as a car blocking a road.

Motoring organisations warned about the rise of private operators issuing penalty tickets as they turn away from clamping.

RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: “It is time for change but the legislation must set rules for those forms of enforcement which will replace clamping, such as ticketing. This needs to be joined-up thinking, not knee-jerk law-making which fails to drive unscrupulous operators out of business. Drivers should also be aware clamping will continue to be allowed on the public highway.”

AA president Edmund King called the Bill “the first nail in the coffin of the cowboy clampers” and added: “Partial licensing of clampers hasn’t worked as it was used as a licence to print money so a ban is the only way out of this mess.”