Car clamping could be illegal

Clamping a car on private grounds could be a breach of the car owner's human rights. That's the verdict of Dr Chris Elliot, an engineer and barrister who has just published a review on the law regarding parking on private land.

His research concludes that clamping companies are acting illegally by charging disproportionately high fees to remove clamps, because they're effectively 'punishing' the car owner - an illegal practice. By law, a clamping company is allowed to charge a 'reasonable' release fee, but cannot charge any more than that.

Dr Elliot's report has prompted calls by the RAC for a Government review of "cowboy clampers whose primary objective appears... simply to take large amounts of money from ordinary people," as Director Stephen Glaister put it.

Dr Elliot said: "The purpose of clamping is to prevent a vehicle being removed from land it should not be on. The tactic only makes sense either to punish or deter. Both have little foundation in English law, since they are based on a notion that one person may punish another. But punishment is a power reserved to the State."

As such, the report recommends that the Government should, among other things, set a flat or capped fee on clamp release and ensure that there is an adequate appeal system put in place for those who've fallen victim to unfair clamping. At the moment, victims must take their cases to the county courts.

Mark Nichol