Victims of misleading & aggressive demands for payment need protection, say David Hertzell & Amy Smith
Rogue wheel-clampers strike fear into the hearts of drivers everywhere. News stories tell of intimidating clampers who threaten those who have unknowingly parked on the clamper’s land. In fact the AA has declared it “legalised mugging”.
Now the government plans to make wheel-clamping on private land illegal. The Protection of Freedoms Act received Royal Assent in May this year. The Act outlaws wheel-clamping on private land: s 54 creates the new offence of immobilising vehicles on private land, punishable upon conviction in the Crown Court by an unlimited fine.
There are questions, however, as to whether this new Act will curb the actions of rogue clampers. Scotland has declared wheel-clamping on private land illegal since 1992 (Black v Carmichael 1992 SLT 897). But following this development, land owners have found another way of trying to prevent people from parking on their land: ticketing. Therefore, although immobilising vehicles parked on private land will
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