Writing for Liberal Democrat Voice, Caroline Pidgeon says:
I spend most of my time arguing for our roads to be made safer and more attractive for cyclists and pedestrians and making the case for improvements in public transport.
However, reducing car traffic and making our towns and cities more attractive for local residents does not mean defending indefensible practices against motorists.
From today one of the worst injustices facing motorists has been ended, with a ban on wheel clamping on private land coming into force in England and Wales. North of the border this activity has been banned on private land for the last two decades.
It will now be illegal to clamp, tow away or immobilise a vehicle on private land without lawful authority to do so. Anyone who breaks the law will face criminal charges and a fine if convicted.
In effect, this will ban most clamping and towing by anyone other than the police, local authorities and some government agencies. The days of an owner of private land being able to clamp cars (often with a lack of poor signage in place) and then demand a small ransom have been banished.
Back in 2010 this policy was announced by Lynne Featherstone and two years later the policy is being delivered.
Some terrible practices facing thousands of people – including many elderly and vulnerable people will now be ended. For anyone needing evidence of how harsh some of these practices have been I suggest taking at a look at the Hansard from this House of Commons adjournment debate. And yes, a further manifesto promise has also been delivered - one which the public overwhelmingly supports.
Yet despite this great news there are a few further points that must be stressed.
The first thing to say is that this new policy is not some attempt to appeal to Jeremy Clarkson and ‘petrol heads’ who think that there should be some total free for all in parking. This measure is simply tackling exploitation and ensuring that parking on private land is dealt with fairly.
Indeed it is worth noting that the ban on companies being able to wheel clamp on private land will go hand in hand with changes to vehicle laws extending the power of the police to remove vehicles parked on private land, so as to ensure landowners have an ultimate power to keep their land clear from obstructive or dangerously parked cars. The Department for Transport is also strengthening laws around ticketing so that unpaid charges can be claimed from the keeper of the vehicle, as well as the driver.
Yet strangely enough not everyone agrees with the specific ban on wheel clamping on private land.
When Lynne Featherstone first announced the ban and wrote an article on her blog the reaction was mixed, with some people mocking the policy initiative and others even defending the continued practice of wheel clamping on privately owned land. Indeed, over the years some people have even argued that due to their simple hostility to car drivers almost every practice by owners of private land can be justified.
In fact just a year before Lynne Featherstone’s announcement, Diane Abbott MP summed up this muddled thinking when she declared in the Observer “Wheel clamping is a perfectly fair punishment.”
Today I am incredibly proud of what Lynne Featherstone has achieved. Tackling inappropriate parking on private land can and must be done in a humane way, and thankfully the Coalition Government has decided that the rights of private land owners should not include the ability to practice daylight robbery.