Rogue clampers clampdown - Estate manager, Chris Palmer, fears for parking at St George’s Fields

Published: 01 April 2011
by JOSH LOEB

AN estate manager has criticised government proposals aimed at combating “rogue clampers” saying they could backfire by sparking a “parking free-for-all” in Westminster.

The proposals laid out in the Protection of Freedoms Bill – which was put forward last month by the Home Office – would make it illegal for landowners or companies to clamp vehicles parked on private land.

Chris Palmer, estate manager at St George’s Fields – a private estate close to Hyde Park – said the legislation would remove a valuable deterrent to dissuade visitors to the West End from leaving cars in bays belonging to residents.

He said: “The government’s proposed legislation will allow the public to trespass and break parking rules without any risk of effective retribution. At the moment clamping is an effective deterrent. I wrote to the minister responsible [Lynne Featherstone] asking for statistics justifying this move to take away the right to control parking on private land. I have not had a response.”

The Home Office said it wanted to end abuses by clamping firms that levy extortionate charges on motorists. 

But David Hewett, chief executive of the Association of Residential Managing Agents, said the government should adopt a “common- sense” approach and impose limits on the amount such companies charge rather than ban their practices outright.

He said: “This bill is being brought in on the pretext that it’s a charter to protect people’s freedoms – but a charter to park on someone else’s land? That is going too far.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are not preventing landowners or companies from carrying out other legal forms of parking enforcement. There are other means to control parking on private land – for example, ticketing or using barriers – and, where appropriate, we would expect landowners to turn to those types of control. 

“It is important to recognise that this has been the position in Scotland since 1992.”