Many landowners outsource ticketing. And frequently the payment itself is dealt with by yet another company, collecting unpaid fines by another still. Some car parks will even be enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. Watters believes it’s a recipe for chaos: “The public won’t know which company to deal with if they have a problem. And there will be problems.
“With ANPR, the tickets are generated by a machine. Private companies don’t have to operate these to the same standards as a police force. What if the camera gets you going in but doesn’t catch you coming out? You go back a month later and when you leave, you get a ticket for being in there for a month. It’s a recipe for c----ups.”
Mistakes or not, wheel clamping is big business. In an attempt to rule out malpractice, clampers have had to be licensed by the Government’s Security Industry Authority since 2001. There are currently 1,550 licensed clampers in Britain. Between them, the Home Office says, they clamp about 500,000 cars each year. That’s roughly one car every day per clamper. However, what they can charge to unclamp vehicles is not regulated. It means the industry raises about £55 million, with an average £110 release fee.
Patrick Troy, chief executive of the BPA, says: “We have long lobbied for better regulation of the private parking sector. We want to see higher operator standards and a fairer deal for motorists. Banning clamping removes any incentive to follow the rules. The Government’s plans are a charter for the selfish parker.”
In an AA poll of 100 MPs, 86 said clamping should be abolished. Edmund King, president of the AA, also believes clamping on private land should be banned. “The industry has had its chance to clean up its act but has failed,” he said. “We’re getting more complaints about parking enforcement on private land, which is a largely unregulated, burgeoning industry.
“The public deserves a fair and proportionate response to minor breaches of rules rather than extortion, threats and profiteering. We have told the Home Office that its proposed new regulation will fail without an independent regulator and appeals process.”
Barrie Segal added: “There is a ready-made system for adjudication of these parking penalties and it seems to be madness that it won’t be used. There’s talk of the BPA acting as adjudicators, which will be like leaving Dracula in charge of the blood bank [in fact, from October 1, councils will act as an Independent Appeals Service]. All that’s going to happen is the motorist is going to come out of it badly.”
The Government’s intention was no doubt worthy. It’s a shame it’s being so poorly executed, and that no one outside the Home Office appears in favour of it.
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