Clamping down on clampers
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They're not always the easiest people to deal with and somehow clampers always seem to have the upper hand. Once they've put their clamp on your car, there's only one way to get it off - pay up.
Clamping is a big issue and not just in Birmingham. The reason that many of us seem to be getting frustrated is because some clampers seem to be able to do whatever they like to get their hands on our money.
Unfortunately the list of regulations for clampers is a short one. A clamper needs a license from the Security Industry Authority, they need to display their license and they need to correctly fill in the paperwork at the time of clamping your car. Not a long list to remember, but, as Watchdog showed previously in this series, some clampers can't even manage that.
Clampers' judgement
The British Parking Association also has guidelines for the industry but clampers don't have to be members and they don't have to follow them. They're free to decide what signs they display, when to clamp you and even what to charge you. It's all down to the clampers' judgement.
Daniel Gibbin went into Birmingham town centre for a meeting. He parked his car, paid for a ticket but when he returned, his car was gone. Daniel had arrived just minutes after his ticket had expired but the clampers hadn't wasted a second before they pounced. In those short few minutes they towed Daniel's car.
When parking at this car park normally costs 70p an hour, £254 for six minutes seems rather steep. So how clear were the warning signs? Well there's only one and it's quite small. Daniel says it has moved since his car was towed and should now be easier to spot. But when Watchdog spoke to regular users of the car park they said they hadn't seen it.
One man said: "I've been coming here for a few years now and I didn't know that sign was there and that's quite concerning? It should be a big large sign and when you're coming in, it should be so everyone can see it."
Took the case to court
The fact the sign was hard to see was one of the reasons that Daniel felt that he'd been treated unfairly. He took his case to court and won. He was refunded the money he'd had to pay to get his car back.
Another set of clampers were even quicker off the mark with Stacey Davies' car. She got back to where she'd left it, just as the ticket expired - but the clampers had got there first. Stacey told us that her ticket expired at 3.23pm. The ticket that the clampers gave her states that they started clamping at 3.25pm, just two minutes after her ticket expired. Stacey wasn't even given the option of paying to remove the clamps, instead she watched in horror as her car was towed away. It cost Stacey £350 to get her car released.
Edmund King, president of the AA, hears these sorts of stories all too often and he's heard a lot worse: "There was a woman in Doncaster and they said they'll keep her three-year-old daughter hostage until she got cash; they've clamped a hearse with a body in the back. An 18-year-old girl in Birmingham was clamped at midnight - she had no money to get back home. So basically they're putting a lot of vulnerable motorists at pressure, bullying them into paying an extortionate amount of money. We need to regulate all of this cowboy activity and if we can't do that we need to outlaw them."
Landmark case
That's exactly what happened in Scotland 17 years ago. In a landmark case the Scottish High Court outlawed wheel-clamping on private land. For the rest of the UK, change may at last be around the corner. The Home Office has just announced plans to force clampers to tow the line.
MP Alan Campbell, minister for Crime Reduction, told Watchdog: "I think that some of the companies have acted in an outrageous way. We can't have a situation where it's simply a revenue raising exercise and a motorist finds that their vehicle is being towed away if they weren't aware because there weren't any signs. They've no control over the level of fees that are charged and no way of redressing the situation. That's not right, which is why we intend to introduce legislation."
This will happen after a public consultation. So you can help decide how the industry should be regulated.
When the Scottish Court banned clamping they called it "theft and extortion". The rest of us call it clamping. With the clampers making their own rules maybe the government will finally clamp down on them.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~12~RS~)
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My husband is a plumber and went to a block of flats to do some plumbing. You needed a permit to park in the car park otherwise you risked being clamped. Hubby ran up the stairs of the flat to get the permit, ran down the stairs to stick it in his van window, only to find a wheel clamper on his knees clamping the vans wheels!!
Hubby waved the permit at the clamper and said Ive got a permit,Clamper fellow shouted 'too late' and refused to stop putting the clamp on the wheel!!!
To cut a very long story short, the local papers were involved, the clamper was exceedingly rude and aggressive, as were the people he worked for, we lost a weeks wages and had to pay £75 to be unclamped!!
They are a law unto themselves and get commision for each car they clamp. Hence they dont give a monkeys about anyone!
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Your programme made my blood boil. I myself was a victim of clampers in the Hillingdon area just before this so called new regulations came into force a couple of years ago, which clearly have done nothing to alleviate or control this problem.
The clampers saw me park and did nothing to prevent it. The sign indicating that it was a clamping area was about 12 feet above the ground, quite small and difficult to see.
Even though I was away from my car for 15 minutes they demanded a charge of £260, which was the towing away fee. They claimed they had the right to do this because there was a tow truck on site.
I gave them what money I had in cash which was a little under £200. They took off the clamp and I got into my car and was preparing to drive off.
Before I could get away they returned and clamped my front offside wheel so quickly that I could not believe it and said that I had not given them sufficient money.
I offered to pay by credit/debit card but this was not acceptable to them and they insisted the cash be brought to the scene. (One wonders why?)
In the meantime they insisted that I vacated my car. The obvious ploy was so that they could tow it to a compound which was about 12 metres away and if I recall correctly this would have cost another £70. As it was they brought up their tow truck and raised the rear end of my car some 3 feet above the ground.
We ended up in a stand off situation for the following 3 hours. They kept threatening that they would call the police to have me evicted from my car but I knew they were not interested because I had also called them and they declined to attend (shame on them). Eventually my wife and daughter arrived on the scene with the necessary cash. It was the only way I could get my car released and had they kept it a further day, since it was already late in the afternoon the charges would have escalated alarmingly.
After nearly 30 years in the police service I would have marked down the 4 or so individuals involved in the clamping as thugs.
I appreciate that nothing is proved and some your viewers may take exception to this view but in my experience over a period of time police officers an instinct for separating the good from the bad which has often been to the benefit of our politically correct bretheren.
After the event, I wrote to the Trading Standards, [personal details removed], the local Police, who were told by them (the clampers) that my car had already been attached to the tow wagon (completely false) by the time I returned to it. I also wrote to other parliamentary people involved in formulating the forthcoming legislation.
I suggested a number of points which included the duty where possible to advise people from parking in the "restricted area", before they clamped, to allow them to leave without penalty. The wearing of some type of uniform or tabard so they would be immediately recognised. The graduation of action over time i.e. not to clamp a vehicle then immediately make an effort to tow it away.
They should be compelled to accept credit/debit card payments. It would be a shame about the tax they would have to pay on these earnings!
Finally the fees should be set not by themselves but an independent body.
Sadly those in power did not take any heed of any of this but allowed a very weak form of legislation to go through which has done little to curb the antics of these parasites.
Scotland had it right when they decided that such behaviour constituted an offence of demanding with menaces under the Scottish law.
In fact it is my belief that it does also under the English law but the problem comes when we try to prove it. It is more often one person's word against a number of others.
Anything you can do to try and eliminate this scourge would be greatly appreciated. My lone voice obviously was not sufficient.
At least I gained some satisfaction that whilst my car was hoisted up by the tow truck it prevented them from doing the same to other motorists.
From speaking to various people at the time this group targeted those who were most unlikely to defend themselves, i.e. a lone driver, a mother with children etc.
Whilst at the scene a gypsy told me he was able to get his car released without charge but then he had lots of brothers, cousins and other relatives who were, no doubt, in a position to “explain” to the clampers, their mistake.
In my view my experience was a cynical ploy by the clampers to obtain money by intimidation.
I suppose the upside of it is that if they were not extorting money by clamping they would be out somewhere robbing a bank.
Mike
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Wheel clamping is out of hand and should be outlawed! It's usage was somehow given over to rogues and thieves who deliberately exploit all comers. If in the courts of Scotland it was deemed illegal then why for God's sake are we English dragging our feet? If I were wheel clamped by these low life clampers, I can guarantee that I would end up with a criminal record! Tony l.
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I have also been a victim of these dodgy, greedy, mindless people and I ended up paying £1030,00....yes I mean £1030,00, after they took my car away for almost three wks, initially claiming £350 to release the car before close of business on the first day. Surprisingly the authorities know about these people. Actually I phoned the police and they told me they know these copmanies are operating in Birmingham but they couldnt help becacause it wasnt a civil matter.
Surely the government will act after someone takes the law into their own hands resulting in somebody losing their life.
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My car was clamped whilst parked in a customer carpark for a Mostyn's store in Exeter. I had a receipt for the time of clamping, contacted the store and even called the police but I had to go to court to get my money back. Both the store and the clampers tried to make the process as difficult as possible but this made me more determined and the Judge very annoyed. She awarded in my favour.
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As an ex police officer I am of the belief that many clampers are committing offences under section 12a of the Theft Act. This states that it is an offence for a person to take a vehicle for his own or another persons use without consent of the lawful owner. This is particularly relevant when clampers remove vehicles when a parking ticket has expired, often by only a few minutes. It appears that in these circumstances the offence is complete, as by demanding money for the vehicle's release, the clamper is effectively "using" the vehicle either for himself or others. The lawful owner certainly does not give consent. If the police starting arresting clampers who do follow this practice it may cause the CPS to throw a "wobbly" but it would almost certainly put an end to the practice. The police service and the CPS need to get their heads together. I have sent my suggestion to the British Parking Association and await their response.
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It was really funny turning the TV over and seeing Watchdog talking about dodgy clampers especially as my mum had been clamped a couple of days ago (9 Apr 09). She went to Bridgewater and while she was there she went to a block of flats in George Street. She went to park in the car park and asked her daughter if it was ok to park there. Her daughter said yes, she always parked there. She looked around for signs and saw nothing. They popped in the flat for 10-15 mins and when they came out her car was being clamped. The guy said that the car park was for the flats, but permit holders only and pointed at a sign at the other end of the car park. You could hardly see the sign and she remembered that there was a van parked in front of the sign when she parked the car. Even though she was only gone a very short time and explained about the sign and the fact that she wasnt from the area he still managed to charge her £125 to release the car. However looking at the storys she was very lucky! that she could pay by credit card with an additional £5 charge. My mum and I feel that you should be able to see the signs from where ever you are in the car park and if neccessary they should have more the one. she cannot afford to take to court and fight and this is probably why they get away with ripping off so many people. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE.
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I am a resident of a housing development that has very desirable parking facilities within walking distance of both the town centre and the rail station used by commuters. We had enormous problems with our private car park being abused by commuters, shoppers and I hate to say it other residents who felt they could park where ever they liked. This caused great distress for the majority of residents as their individual parking bays were being occupied by interlopers and also there were never any of visitors bays free for genuine visitors.
So a clamping firm was engaged using a permit based system and what do you know it got rid of all those who were abusing our private car park and residents who use the parking facilities within the rules that were clearly set out have no problems with the clamping firm.
Now I’m not saying that this is that this perfect solution, but if clamping is made illegal what could we do to protect our parking facility, from abuse?
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I can certainly relate to these clamping stories. Last week whilst working i decided to pop into a local shop and grab a sandwich, to my ignorance i didn't see the sign up or realise you couldn't park in this particular area. So i popped into the shop and was gone roughly 5 mins and when i got back my van had been clamped and the tow vehicle was already on it's way. The man who clamped me had watched me leave the van and clamped it straight away and without giving me a chance to even attempt to make payment he'd called the tow truck. The total payment came to £396 to have the clamp removed and was told that they'd even charged an extra £50 because i became abusive toward the clamper.
These people that clamped and attempted to tow me were very rude, intimidating and threatening!! It seems as though they can say and charge whatever they like and get away with it. We need to put a stop to these people for good.
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Last week I had my my precious car towed away from a private car park in Hornchurch.Yes it was my fault for not seeing the signs on the block of flats, could`nt see any in the actual car park, anyway I deserve a fine for not checking but do I deserve to pay £450 to get my car back. I don`t think so.. I call it blackmail. What made it worse is I had to pay cash.. now tell me who normally has that amount sitting around in cash and I had to get myself to some out of the way place to retrieve my car and the only way was to get a cab, another £15. Was not the best couple days I have ever had. Surely it cannot be right that these people can charge this amount of money, it would have been cheaper to park on a double yellow, which of course I would never do. Where`s the justice?
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my dad's car was towed away unlawfully as he is disabled and he had blue and purple badge displayed on his windscreen but they still took his car and when we went there to talk to them ask them why they took the vehicle they said that there wasn't a valid display ticket on the screen and that it was a permit only parking and when I told them that there was disabled badges on the windscreen they said that we aren't allowed to park on the street on the road that it was parked so I asked why and he said that it was only pay n display area so I was confused I always knew that he can park there but still I said ok,and I asked them can we have the purple badge back and they refused to give it so I argued with them and said I should write to their office so I did but I didn't get any reply from them and in the meant I checked again where can we park and I was right that we can park there, but after a while my dad saw his car at an auction I believe it was two weeks after the car was towed away and the car was in a very poor state so I went back there and said to them that before I pay the fine I will have to see the vehicle and then the attendant there got very confused and scared as I could see the expression on his face and he said that he couldn't find the car in the lot so I asked why/how come when the car was impounded to lots road and he went and called his manager on the phone apparently, and he said that the car was scrapped and we then asked why, when the heck did we signed papers that they can take the car, and he had no idea what to say so I told him that we will take legal action's. but my dad's condition has worsen and we where occupied with other things and didn't do anything about it but my dad still can't get his purple badge, and due to this he has to park quite a long way from his home in order to get free parking :/ when we called the council regarding this they said that they need the original badge that they gave'd him in order so that they can replace it with other. when we told them the story they said that they have nothing on the system. oh n btw they even threatened with bailiffs so that we would pay the amount owned to them but we didn't and nothing happened. so yeah I agree with you all that they do fill like they are above the law and same goes to the bailiffs
they don't care if the matter is already over or if you are waiting for reply from the company that is taking action.
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Living in a block of flats with a carpark, I have seen many a people get clamped - as i write this, a mini cab driver got his car clamped as he came to pick up a client! He wasn't even parking, he'd merely stopped beneath the fire escape stairwell and the clampers did not hesitate to pounce once he was up there.
I've also heard of them clamping pizza delivery bikes and even a charity van who had stopped to drop things off to the charity store nearby.
I want to know if its legal for them to clamp a car while a child is in it? A mother had parked momentarily to get her purse that she had left in the hair salon and her daughter was in the car when they were clamped.
I don't have a car so I never need to worry about being in this predicament, but I really feel for those cars in the carpark who get clamped. This is ridiculous and the charges is daylight robbery!! They sit in the car park in a tow truck so the minimum they can charge is £300 - if a tow truck isnt called then its only £50. Something needs to be done. Proper laws need to be put into place. They should give people a maximum of 5-10 mins to read the signs and realise they should not park there and move.
To those who've experienced the wrath of clampers, I do feel for you and my heart goes out to you.
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I wonder if you can help please
I parked my vehicle near the wall on my house association carpark, with a permit on the windscreen and went in holidays.
I was away longer than what I planned and in the meantime mot & tax had expired.
The housing association receptionist said they dont deal with clamping issues(!!??.
I Called the clamping company and they said that the permit wasn/t visible...
Thanks in advance yours MTF
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Hi, I got a parking permit from my house association and put it on the windscreen in and left the vehicle in my usual parking space then I went in holidays.
Coming back later than expected and realizing that my MOT And TAX had expired I rushed to my parking spot and
found the vehicle clamped.
It was clamped on the weel near the wall side with also a sticker on the same side quite invisible from the road... I called the number on the sticker to relese the clamp and I was told there wasn't a permit in their picture of the vehicle!! I doublechecked and the permit was there where I left it!
They ask me 175£
I wonder If something can be done! The whole thing really angers me, I'm unable to go anywhere.
If I cut the clamp out do I incut in any legal problems?
I need some good suggestions
thanks
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I live in a share house.I bought a car with a person living in the house.It was a Sunday when i bought the car the next my car being clamped and i have to pay £650 to release the clamp.
I spoke the bailif he told if i don't pay the amount my car will be taken away.
I have to take day off from work to sort out the matter and i have to borrow money to release my car.
Why i have to pay for something if the previous owner did not pay parking ticket.
Can someone help to sort out the matter ?
I don't know what should i do to get my money back.
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My son who has special educational needs had his van, tools and whole WORKING life taken away from him by a bailiff thug from [company name removed] collecting on behalf of Camden cOUNCIL.
He is now on the dole.
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Today Thursday 7/5/2009 i received a parking fine for 100 pound or 70pound if i pay within 7 days,the contravention was apparently no parking according to signage at the keepmoat statium in doncaster, i parked up infront of the statium at about 18.38 and sat in the car as i changed my trousers to tracksuit bottoms prior to playing five aside football i then went inside the stadium to the toilet for only a couple of minutes and on returning the ticket was on my window screen with the time 18.43 (he must have literally watched me go inside and then attached the fine notice). I parked where i had parked on dozens of previous occations but i had not been since the daylight hours had changed which was quite a few weeks ago now, on confronting the parking warden he said the parking notices had been put up only a few weeks previous and i asked where the warning signs where and he replied at every entrance to the build, so i looked around and spotted the notice which was about the size of a A3 sheet which as he said was located near the entrance door but not anywere near the parking areas involved in the parking contravention. at the point i refuse to pay the fine to these unlawful cowboys and i also ask for any advice legal or not on how to persue action against paying the fine.
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I have just had to pay £255 to get a clamp removed from my car. My Husband and I left our car at a retail park where we were intending to shop but thought we would just pop into town whilst there as needed to pick up a food brochure from M&S. We got back to the clampers tow truck parked next to our car and a wheel clamp on it. They were busy dealing (very aggresively) with a lady who was sorting out her payment.
Having been told we would have to wait to pay them we accepted it was our fault and that £125 was alot, to be brusquely informed that as the truck was on site it was £250 plus £5 for card payments and cash was not an option!
We argued that the truck was there for the other car but they were having none of it. So we never got to shop as we were left with no option but to pay the full amount. There was at least another 5 cars clamped so a very good days takings.
On speaking to our neighbour it turns out that they sit in the tow truck all day on site waiting. Surely this is illegal or at least it ought to be.
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I want to complain about being clamped in Exeter by [company removed]. Their machine would not accept either of my 5p coins (iahd 3)which would have enabled me to pay £3.20 for 4 hours of parking. I was attending a seminar nearby so put a note with ticket explaining that the machine wouldn't accept 5p coins - I paid £3.10. My car was clamped and I had to pay £100. Doesn't seem so bad looking at some of the stories above.... however I had the full price of the ticket and I was prevented from paying it, by their machine. Yes, the machine displays the fact that it accepts 5p etc coins...
I also feel as if I have been robbed. I've appealed and of course it was unsuccessful. £100 for 10p.... who would want to visit Exeter again when there are such desperate people around.
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[Clamping company removed] will only provide names and licence details once you pay them £150 to release your car. Having paid they then refuse to provide the details anyway. Parking in my own car space that I lease, and which belongs to the flat I own, and getting clamped must be wrong.
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'When the Scottish Court banned clamping they called it "theft and extortion". The rest of us call it clamping'
Interestingly, a Government agency, the DVLA is using these very 'theft and extortion' techniques in Scotland, even though it is clearly illegal. I was victim to a DVLA clamping scam last year when DVLA Ingliston car pound ran one of their clamping rackets on private land in Edinburgh. I am still waiting to get my money back and have now had to enlist the help of my MP to return the money DVLA forced me to pay.
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