Cowboy Clampers Reined In
Published: 8th May 2005
The RAC Foundation is today (3rd May 2005) claiming a long overdue victory for motorists as clamping on private land without a licence becomes a criminal offence. From today anyone clamping, towing away or blocking vehicles for a fee will need a licence.
Over the last eleven years the RAC Foundation has campaigned for the introduction of statutory regulations to limit the excesses of private clamping companies. Excesses have included:
- Clampers demanding a lady’s gold tooth or sexual favours in lieu of payment.
- Clampers clamping a hearse with a body in the back.
- Clampers in Doncaster threatening to hold a mothers' three-year-old daughter hostage until she collected £60 from a bank.
- In London, a motorist moved his car under direction from the police who were investigating a murder at the original site where his car was parked. He was then promptly clamped.
- In Portsmouth a man was clamped when he stopped because the clampers lorry had run into the back of him.
- A clamper in Essex forced a heavily pregnant lady to walk two miles to a cash machine and back to pay him the clamp release fee of £75.
- A clamper in Devon preyed on an elderly disabled lady and her husband, after they parked their car for 5 minutes, displaying a disabled badge whilst going to the post office to collect the lady’s pension. On their return the clamper bullied the lady into handing over her pension to remove the clamp.
Now, some four years after the legislation to licence clampers was passed, unscrupulous cowboy clampers are finally being reined in. Ruled to be "extortion and theft" in Scotland since 1992, wheel clamping on private land was banned overnight. However, until today in England and Wales, clampers have been allowed to operate unchecked, charging whatever amounts they liked and often using threats and intimidation. As of today, anyone found clamping without a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence could incur significant fines of up to £5000 and up to 5 years in prison.
The Foundation is today issuing advice to motorists as to how this new licensing scheme affects them and what they should do if they are clamped on private land:
All SIA licensed clampers will have had to be trained to:
- Know when to clamp and when not to clamp
- Understand the legislation concerning vehicle immobilisation
- Behave in a responsible manner
- Provide effective customer care
- Avoid, resolve and defuse conflict
The conditions of the licence state that any vehicle immobiliser must not clamp/block/tow away a vehicle if:
- A valid disabled badge is displayed
- It is a marked emergency service vehicle in use
When a release fee is collected, the vehicle immobiliser must provide a receipt which should include:
- The location where the vehicle was clamped or towed
- Their name and signature
- Their licence number
- The date
If motorists are clamped on private land, they should first ask to see the clamper’s SIA licence. If they don’t have one, report them to the SIA (08702 430 100) or email info@the-sia.org.uk. If the clamper won’t release your car you should contact the police.
If the clamper does have a licence, and you feel they have behaved in an inappropriate way, you should first take the matter up with them. If they fail to resolve your complaint, you may have a case in civil law against them. You should contact your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Officer for advice.
The Foundation will be closely monitoring the success of the licensing scheme, and hopes that it will not need to repeat its annual Dick Turpin Award for the UK’s worst clamper in 2006.
Edmund King, Executive Director of the RAC Foundation, said:
"The licensing of clampers is a victory for motorists. Cowboy clampers have been allowed to get away with their unscrupulous activities for far too long.
"Up until now many motorists have felt that they have no rights and no option but to hand over often extortionate amounts of money to the clampers. Now any rogue clamper operating without a licence faces a large fine and even imprisonment.
"After our long campaign against cowboy clampers some of the outlaws are finally being reined in."
