WHEEL-CLAMPING
By Anglegrinder Man

Wheel-clamping, along with Speed Cameras, Congestion Charging, proposed ID cards, CCTV Cameras and new toll-roads are all good examples of inept administrators attempting to make their lives easier and solve their own mis-management problems by persecuting the people that they have failed. For them public opinion is not something that they have to listen to, but something to try and manipulate…with our money!! They do the only job in the world that doesn’t have to be cost effective and where you can set your own salary.

The letter of the law actually states that placing a wheel-clamp on someone else’s vehicle, is technically trespass upon their property. This is what you would expect. If anyone else were to disable somebody’s car and hold it to ransom, as a means of extorting money from it’s owner, then that person would spend the night in a Police cell! The Mafia, Triads, and Yakusa are all banned from demanding payment through coercion, but if you have a shiny peaked cap and a council uniform, then it seems to be allowed.

Apart from the actual clampers (who, I have it on very good authority, turn a blind eye to their colleague’s cars, when found illegally parked), it would appear that the only people who actually approve of vehicle immobilization, are the bureaucrats and politicians themselves. Not that Alistair Darling or Ken Livingston would know anything about driving in London….they both have chauffeurs paid for by the tax payer. And Jack Straw’s flunkey doesn’t even have to obey the speed limits!

In the late 1980’s, the then Conservative government introduced the unwanted Community Charge which millions of people refused to pay. The Prime Minister was out of step with public opinion but through haughty disdain for the electorate, dug in her heels, and declared that all non-payers would go to prison. What actually happened, was that nobody went to prison. Margaret Thatcher was swept from power and the hated Poll Tax was scrapped.

Because the public had stood together, and more importantly, because they had realised that they really could set the agenda and were not bound by the demands of Parliament, the perception (and it really is only a perception) that we are powerless to affect change, was broken. The stranglehold that politicians hold over us is only a stranglehold because we usually choose to see it as such. After all…..THOSE BERKS WORK FOR US!! (look up ‘berk’ in the Oxford English or a good rhyming slang dictionary).

A postman had stopped for just two minutes to deliver a parcel in Dorchester, Dorset. The clampers demanded £100 to free him so he could continue his round and only backed down 45 minutes later after he walked back to his depot to alert his bosses.

Police officers are frequently called to deal with disputes between motorists and private contractors after a vehicle has been wheel clamped after parking without permission on private land. The main concern of an officer called to such an incident will be to stop a breach of the peace, as this is usually a civil matter, not a police matter. If there are adequate signs clearly displayed on the land saying that vehicles parked without consent will be clamped, and stating the fee required for the clamp to be removed, the act of clamping will probably be lawful.

In this situation any damage caused to the clamp by trying to remove it may mean the person is liable in civil law for any damage. Depending on the circumstances, it may also mean he/she has committed an offence of criminal damage. Any removal of the clamp in a situation where signs are adequately displayed may amount to theft. If clamping has taken place on a piece of land where signs are not clearly displayed the act of clamping a vehicle may be unlawful, leaving the clamping company liable in civil law.

The officer attending a wheel clamping will not become involved in any arguments about payment or non-payment of an unclamping fee. He or she will simply make a note of the circumstances and any allegations which are made.

Relevent articles of interest can be found at:

http://www.swarb.co.uk/lawb/genClampersBiteDust.shtml
http://autoinfozone.com/clamps.html
http://www.difflock.com/nm/publish/news_152.shtml
http://www.finebuster.co.uk/
http://www.uk-driving-secrets.com/beat/?afl=13837

It would be interesting to see what the clampers would do if drivers used their own wheel clamps on all four wheels of their cars when parking. See: http://www.saundersonsecurity.co.uk/acatalog/Wheel_Clamps_help.html

A national database will trace drivers who have failed to pay parking fines. Their vehicles will be targeted as soon as they are spotted, even if parked legally outside their homes, and they then face having their cars clamped or removed. The database would include all drivers with three or more outstanding penalties for parking offences, driving in bus lanes, minor traffic infringements or failing to pay the congestion charge.

Local authorities plan to pool information on unpaid tickets so that vehicles can be clamped anywhere in the country for offences that may have been committed many miles away. Wardens will be able to check a car’s record on their handheld computers and summon a clamping van. Drivers will have to pay all the outstanding fines as well as release and storage fees in order to recover their vehicles. This could mean a bill of at least £500.

The national parking offenders database is being considered by a Department for Transport working group, which is preparing new guidelines for parking enforcement. Keith Banbury, the chief executive of the British Parking Association and a member of the working group, said, “Drivers often throw their tickets away because they have failed to register or insure their cars and believe they cannot be traced. By creating a national offenders database, parking attendants all over the UK would be able to act quickly, to the benefit of the public.” (Source: Times Online)

Theodora Loizou, an 81-year-old gran, got her own back on wheel clampers by grabbing a lump hammer from her car and wrecking their van. She flipped after complaining to the parking firm about an £80 release fee, only for a second team to arrive and demand £100.

Theodora, who claims her car was clamped even though it was in her resident’s bay, fetched the mallet after being ordered to pay up or face a £325 bill for having the car towed. As a crowd gathered she smashed the van’s windscreen and then its headlights. The damaged vehicle had to be carted off on the clampers’ own tow truck.

The clampers had swooped after spotting her tax disc was two days out of date. Theodora explained she was on her way to buy a new one but they refused to show mercy. Police were called and although Theodora was not arrested she could face court. Clamp firm IS Traffic Management said, “It’s par for the course, we get about five smashed windscreens a month.”

Theodora and her grandson have been actioning a petition and will be attending the next residents meeting to request all clamping of residents to be stopped. Everyone they have spoken to has given their support and over 200 people have signed their petition.

People can link to this story through www.hammergran.co.uk and follow her blog as she takes on her housing association. She will detail her fight with her housings association and is determined to get these parking rules changed with the support and backing of the people. (Source: The Sun, Oct/06)