Victory for drivers as new rules put the brakes on clampers
Times Online
By Ben Webster,
Transport Correspondent
LOCAL authorities are to be banned from clamping cars for minor parking offences and ordered to focus on immobilising persistent offenders.
A national database of vehicles with three or more parking penalties is to be created. When spotted by parking wardens the vehicles will be clamped or removed and the owners will have to pay all the outstanding fines before being allowed to drive away. Councils will be expected to collect fines on others’ behalf.
The Department for Transport is publishing draft statutory guidance for local authorities on parking enforcement. It says that the objective should be to improve traffic flow and protect residents’ parking areas, not to make a profit.
“Raising revenue should not be an objective of parking enforcement, nor should targets be set for raising revenue or the number of penalty notices to be issued.”
It states that “clamping should only be used in limited circumstances” when authorities have reason to believe that the driver will ignore a penalty.
If a local authority wants to clamp a vehicle which is not a persistent offender it must wait at least an hour after a ticket has been issued.
A DfT spokesman said: “Clamping can be counterproductive because the clamped car takes up a space which other drivers could use. Where a vehicle is causing a hazard or obstruction, the local authority should remove rather than immobilise.”
The document also states that if a driver returns to the vehicle while the clamp is being attached or the vehicle is being removed, the operation should cease and the owner should be allowed to drive away with only a parking ticket.
The vehicle must be returned to the road unless it has “all its wheels aboard the tow truck”. Clamps should be removed within an hour of payment being received.
Authorities will be asked to allow drivers to pay tickets at the discounted rate even if they challenge them.
Motorists will be able to make an initial challenge and will get another 14 days to pay at the discounted rate if their claim is rejected.
A two-tier penalty system of charges is supported, with a lower rate for minor offences, such as overstaying on a parking meter, but a higher rate for parking on yellow lines.
The RAC Foundation welcomed the restrictions on clamping but said that moves to introduce the national persistent offenders database could result in drivers being forced to pay tickets incurred by previous owners.
The guidance will come into force next summer.
By Ben Webster,
Transport Correspondent
LOCAL authorities are to be banned from clamping cars for minor parking offences and ordered to focus on immobilising persistent offenders.
A national database of vehicles with three or more parking penalties is to be created. When spotted by parking wardens the vehicles will be clamped or removed and the owners will have to pay all the outstanding fines before being allowed to drive away. Councils will be expected to collect fines on others’ behalf.
The Department for Transport is publishing draft statutory guidance for local authorities on parking enforcement. It says that the objective should be to improve traffic flow and protect residents’ parking areas, not to make a profit.
“Raising revenue should not be an objective of parking enforcement, nor should targets be set for raising revenue or the number of penalty notices to be issued.”
It states that “clamping should only be used in limited circumstances” when authorities have reason to believe that the driver will ignore a penalty.
If a local authority wants to clamp a vehicle which is not a persistent offender it must wait at least an hour after a ticket has been issued.
A DfT spokesman said: “Clamping can be counterproductive because the clamped car takes up a space which other drivers could use. Where a vehicle is causing a hazard or obstruction, the local authority should remove rather than immobilise.”
The document also states that if a driver returns to the vehicle while the clamp is being attached or the vehicle is being removed, the operation should cease and the owner should be allowed to drive away with only a parking ticket.
The vehicle must be returned to the road unless it has “all its wheels aboard the tow truck”. Clamps should be removed within an hour of payment being received.
Authorities will be asked to allow drivers to pay tickets at the discounted rate even if they challenge them.
Motorists will be able to make an initial challenge and will get another 14 days to pay at the discounted rate if their claim is rejected.
A two-tier penalty system of charges is supported, with a lower rate for minor offences, such as overstaying on a parking meter, but a higher rate for parking on yellow lines.
The RAC Foundation welcomed the restrictions on clamping but said that moves to introduce the national persistent offenders database could result in drivers being forced to pay tickets incurred by previous owners.
The guidance will come into force next summer.
posted by Neil Herron at 12:07 PM
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