Car Clampers Already Have A Replacement For Soon To Be Illegal Clamps

Tuesday, 14. September 2010

: Image by David Jones via Flickr

There was a lot of euphoria when the Government announced that they were going to ban the clamping and towing of cars parked on private land. The ban comes into force in November 2010, under new laws set to stop unscrupulous clampers from charging ridiculous amounts of money, to either have the clamp removed, or get your car back from a pound where the car has been towed to. However, before the anti-clampers had time to sip their first glass of celebratory Champagne the AA warned that the Government had not gone far enough. They had omitted to include the issuing of parking tickets. Paul Waters, head of public affairs at the AA, warned ‘We are concerned that cowboy enforcers will move on to issue parking tickets – an area which remains unregulated.’ Regulated parking companies have access to the DVLA’s database so they can find the address of the vehicle owner and chase the owner for the fine, this is totally legal. But if you weren’t driving the car at the time the fine cannot be enforced and you don’t have to say who was actually driving. However, this rarely stops the rogues from sending you some pretty nasty letters and pursuing payments, threatening court and debt collectors etc. However, these fines are very rarely pursued through the courts so you should sit tight and refuse to pay. Half of those that are ticketed pay up and that is enough for the cowboy companies that issue them but don’t be intimidated. If you feel that you are being unfairly treated there is a letter template on Martin Lewis’s website that you can use to challenge the ticket. Of course there is a downside to all this, as there are some pretty ignorant drivers out there that will see this as an opportunity to park anywhere without fear of any retribution. If I owned a piece of land or a car park for my customers only I guess I would be pretty ticked off if a driver simply drove in and parked. The letter template is here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

If you have any views – let me know. By Graham Hill