Under the Protection of Freedoms Act, it is now illegal to clamp, tow or immobilise cars parked on private land without lawful authority - anyone found breaking the law can potentially face an unlimited fine. This effectively means that clamping and towing will be restricted to the police, local authorities, the DVLA and other authorities acting in accordance with by-laws like airports and railways stations.
Other changes that have also come in from 1 October include giving police more powers to remove cars parked on private land, while unpaid tickets can now be claimed from the registered owner of the vehicle, as well as the driver. There will also be an Independent Appeals Service funded by the British Parking Association (BPA) that will allow drivers to be able to appeal tickets issued on private land by a company that is a member of the BPA's Approved Operator Scheme. This has been criticised as a little bit like getting the Highwaymen clampers to simply register themselves or even for the worse offenders not to even bother and carry on as before – the AA for example has warned that the measures don't go far enough.
So if you are a landowner who has nuisance parking issues, now might be a good time to consider an alternative to the cowboy clampers. A solution for some landowners could be to have better car park and traffic barriers. Parking bollards and posts can be very effective in marking out boundaries and something like the hinged padlock parking posts or a retractable post that is lockable in an upright position are ideal to restrict illicit parking.
As well as bollards and posts, the Workplace Depot can also supply height restriction barriers, swing gates and automatic barriers. For more information please see our barriers section and if you need further information on any of our parking products, please do not hesitate to call our Helpline on 0800 012 6777 (Mon-Fri. standard UK office hours).
Tim Price writes for a number of popular websites including The Workplace Depot and BigArt