Private Wheel Clampers 'Out Of Control'
1:28am UK, Friday August 21, 2009
The lure of the huge amounts of money made by wheel clampers is leading to "out of control" practice, says the AA.
Private protection of land is a lucrative business
The quest for uncontrolled money-raking is so great that some companies offer DIY packs, with signs that can be printed off the internet, the motoring organisation said.
Anyone can now set themselves up as a parking enforcer and "start to cash in", it revealed.
The companies, who access DVLA drivers' records, send out parking tickets on behalf of the DIY enforcers and take a cut of the fines.
The scale and level of punishment meted out by an army of private enforcers was "frightening and often bordering on criminality", the motoring organisation added.
It gave a number of examples, including one where an elderly pensioner and her sick husband were wrongly double-charged £370 by a private clamper.
Then there was the case of a woman who stopped for a few seconds when she heard a noise at the rear of her car.
180 car wheel clamp
Motorists getting more enraged
Someone said "I won't be a moment" - and clamped her car while she was sitting in it with the engine running.
She was charged £300 for the clamp to be removed.
"Self-regulation is not working as there are too many firms and individuals operating in this often shady area," said the AA's public affairs head Paul Watters.
"The trade body members making and enforcing the rules are trying to rein in something that is spiralling out of control.
"Private parking enforcement is big business, generating millions of pounds and no-one notices and acts when the rules are broken.
"The public have absolutely no protection if a private parking firm acts unfairly - it is time for regulation of private enforcement through local authorities who can licence the land where parking is to be controlled.
"We need a completely independent appeal system, perhaps through the parking adjudication services which already exist."
