WHEEL-CLAMPING

Page 1 | 2 | 3
 

The clamping firm which made motorists' lives a misery has been sacked by a car park owner, after he was clamped. Stefan Rutherford, whose family owns the city centre Crompton Street car park, said finding his own car immobilised was "the final straw". Mr Rutherford said the clamping operation had seen fewer and fewer motorists using the car park. Drivers boycotted the site after their cars were targeted for minor transgressions such as parking a fraction over the bay markings. On each occasion they were forced to hand over £125 before their cars would be released. At the time Matthew Rutherford, son of the car park's owner, Alan Rutherford, said the clamping firm was needed.

But after losing more than £1,000 a week in revenue, and himself being clamped, Matthew's brother, Stefan, said enough was enough. Stefan has now sacked the clamping company, Town Parks Management, and said "never again" would clamping take place on that land. Stefan said, "The final straw was when I was clamped and approached for money by the clampers. I said to the clamper to remove it and they were very rude to me. To be fair I hadn't put a ticket on, because it was my car park, but it was the way it was dealt with that I took issue with." But it is the loss of income from people boycotting the car park over the clampers' tactics which forced the decision to sack the firm.

He added, "We never saw a penny from the clamping company. They were initially brought in because we were having problems with taxis parking on the land. It started to ruin our business. We saw the income drop by around £1,000 a week. It became so serious we decided that enough was enough and we got rid of them. I have never agreed with clamping and taking money from individuals' pockets. Never again will a clamping or security firm work on the car park." He said his family had lost nearly £200,000 because of the issues.

Josh Cooke, of Town Parks Management, said the company had been dissolved but he admitted, "I think in hindsight the approach taken was too heavy-handed." Derby North MP Chris Williamson had encouraged people to boycott the car park when he was first informed about the tactics used by the clampers. He said, "This is a victory for the people power that our campaign galvanised to highlight the disgraceful tactics being used by the operators of this car park. I welcome this decision but it's long overdue. The owners should now apologise for the distress they caused and repay the punitive charges they imposed on unsuspecting motorists." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Sep/11)

Dawn Molloy said a £125 fine she had to pay when clamped in a private Derby car park is "atrocious". She claimed her car was clamped because one wheel was fractionally over a parking bay line at the site on Crompton Street. Other drivers also complained the clampers were rude and they intended to challenge the charges but CP Management, which runs the site, said they worked within the rules laid down by government. Ms Molloy said the clampers demanded the fine in cash and refused to discuss the matter.

Eddie Stephens had been fined £100 for a similar infringement but had not been clamped. He said, "I am not going to pay. I am going to let them take me to court. I have taken some photographs, I have taken a photograph of the sign which says the offence is only committed if you are parked in two bays which I clearly wasn't." CP Management said the fines are clearly displayed and not over-enforced. This incident came just days after the motoring organisation the AA called for clamping in England and Wales to be made illegal.

City Parks Management Ltd said it has done nothing wrong and that drivers should be more careful. Matthew Rutherford, from the company, said, "I wouldn't say it was over-zealous. These are the parking measures the government have given us to work within. And car parking companies like myself are using the measures we are given." Derby North MP Bob Laxton said new regulations were needed to prevent excessive charges on the same day the Government promised to get tough on rules about parking on private land.

He said, "I'm very careful about where I park, but I would be enraged if somebody clamped me. There should be some proper controls over these companies, although it's difficult because they are on privately owned land. There needs to be a ceiling on the amount that can be charged for breaking parking regulations and some proper regulation of the companies." Labour councillor Ranjit Banwait has called for a boycott of Crompton Street car park after claims from drivers that they were being told to pay hundreds of pounds in fines.

He said, "The penalties are totally disproportionate in comparison to the offence. Drivers should take matters into their own hands and hurt the clampers where it hurts, in the pocket. That's why I'm urging drivers not to park at the car park for a week or so. That'll soon send the clampers a clear message." Drivers in Crompton Street are handed £100 parking fines, which are reduced to £50 if it is settled within seven days but many claim to have also been hit with £125 release fees after being clamped for parking on the line, even if they say they are just centimetres over.

Matthew Rutherford added that clamping was necessary as car parks were "commercial businesses" and that landowners were losing out on revenue because of people parking illegally. He declined to say how many vehicles had been clamped, or how much money the firm had made, in the eight months it had been operating at Crompton Street. Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said an "action plan" would be revealed later in the year to give more protection to motorists in England. He said, "We will not tolerate overcharging or intimidating motorists." But isn't that just what the government is doing? (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/09)

It appears you can be clamped on private where a fee to park has been paid. The mentality of these people is that clamping is a licence to print money and no one must object whatever the circumstances. It seems that although previously the police were not prepared to take any specific action, now a victim may now also be pursued by the police as a criminal for a supposed act of theft. It thus seems that being a victim of wheel clamping on private land has now deteriorated a stage further, even when you have paid a fee to park on that land. Although West Midlands police state on their web site "In a situation where signs are adequately displayed, police action in respect of criminal damage, or theft, should normally be managed by way of reporting for process, rather than arrest and charge", they now are acting quite differently.

They recently mounted, without warning, a dawn raid on student lodgings because of a clamping incident with a student at Warwick university where snow had obscured markings on a car park at the university, and the student had parked unknowingly over a marked area (covered by the snow), although he had paid to park on their land. The university has accused the student of theft of their wheel clamp. He had it for 4 weeks after removing it from his clamped vehicle, without damaging it, and was attempting to negotiate with them because of the snow obscuring the marked area when he parked unawares. He was handcuffed and arrested by the police and is now on bail having a police record, with finger prints, DNA etc.

The CPS have initially (understandably) refused to prosecute, unless the police can produce evidence of his intent to permanently deprive the university of their clamp! So it seems if you peacefuly remove a wheel clamp without damaging it when you have paid to park on someone's land, and have been immorally clamped the police will arrest you and attempt to charge you with theft! They evidently have no serious real criminals to catch or prefer the easy targets! So the student has ended up with a police record, and could still face prosecution and having a criminal record. He could also end up with imprisonment if the prosecution goes ahead and is successful, although he paid a fee to park on their land.

This is quite a vicious act and shows just how out of hand wheel clamping on private land has now become; a licence to print money in reality, even when you have paid a fee to park. What makes it even more unbelievable is that Warwick university will not gain anything if the student is prosecuted successfully, other than some sort of sadistic revenge. It seems that if you are foolish enough to decide to read at Warwick rather than at Edinburgh this former university will attempt to give you a criminal record as well as an honours degree. Quite outrageous and unacceptable I feel?

It is probably important that as many people as possible understand just how pathetic the British police have now become, and how they will waste resources and spend their time at the public's expense mounting dawn raids like this without any search warrant to avoid having to catch and convict real criminals? It seems that part of the motivation in this case was that the university and the police were victimizing this particular student because of his racial/ethnic origin; the police actually admitted this and claimed that he was Chinese, which he was not, but it must have been the university authorities who informed them of this. I thought this was now supposed to be illegal, and was termed racial discrimination? Clearly the police do not think so.

The other important issue is that the police did not actually raid the residence where the student lives. They raided another student's accommodation in a different part of Coventry, where he had been staying overnight and was still in bed on the morning of the raid. He is not sure how the police even found out he was there that morning and then arrested him. In any case it is all overkill and a great waste of public money, because the police did not even contact him and question him first! He has no previous police record nor any record of crime or misdemeanor. He could now end up with a criminal record just for parking in snow when he had paid to park on the university's private land.

Also prospective students thinking of reading at Warwick now should seriously consider whether they would want to read at a university like this, where it is now run like an Army training camp, by idiots previously in the Army, and they as students could also suffer possible similar racial discrimination like this? Anon