Clamping and towing
There is nothing more likely to make your blood boil than to return to your vehicle and find not only a parking ticket on your windscreen but also a clamp affixed to your wheel. For years we have been lobbying local authorities and central government to restrict clamping as how does it help to ease congestion when a vehicle is immobilised. It simply ensures that the vehicle remains parked for longer than it otherwise would.
We believe that some local authorities use clamping as a way to raise additional revenue and some even set targets to their contractors. In the year 2005/2006 Camden council in London told its contractors that they should clamp 28,000 vehicles. In one year alone Westminster council clamped 45,000 vehicles. However both councils have now caved in to pressure and have stopped clamping altogether as have Manchester who said:
“it seemed a contradiction in terms to clamp an illegally parked vehicle” Islington council in London admitted “we got it wrong” and stopped clamping in 2005.
View the Statutory Guidance fo parking
If you have been clamped or your vehicle has been removed you will need to pay to have it removed but you may be able to claim back the cost if the enforcing authority have not followed the rules regarding clamping or if the penalty charge notice (parking ticket) should not have been issued in the first place. You will also have the pay the parking ticket but you can do this under protest. In 2008 the government issued guidance to local authorities and included a section on clamping and towing away. There are also other acts which set down the rules for clamping and towing away. If you use the guidance in any appeal to the adjudicator there is no guarantee that he will rule in your favour if the council have not followed the guidance but he may well do and going to the adjudicator will not cost you anything extra under normal circumstances.
The new government guidance issued to local authorities in April 2008 discourages clamping and towing away.. Hopefully very soon clamping will be a thing of the past except in the case of persistent evaders. We suggest that you have a look at this and then return to this page.
Below are some rules which local authorities must follow and some suggestions to try and have your clamping or towing away fee refunded. Of course a clamp can only be fitted or a vehicle removed if a penalty charge notice has been issued first. So check the relevant section on our parking section to see if you have a case to have the ticket cancelled. The clamping or towing away fee will also be refunded if the penalty charge notice is cancelled.
The rules
1.) Clamps cannot be affixed to vehicles displaying a valid disabled badge
2.) Guidance issued in March 2008 under the traffic management act 2004 states that clamps and removals should only be used in exceptional circumstances. It says that they should not be used in permitted bays until at least 30 minutes after a PCN has been fixed to a windscreen except in the case of persistent evaders.
3.) Local authorities issue guidelines to their contractors regarding the fixing of clamps and you can request a copy of these. Obviously if their contractors have not abided by the local authorities guidelines you would have grounds for appeal. In fact parking adjudicators sometimes ask for these before determining an appeal. Enforcing authorities will also have a protocol stating their policy on enforcement of different offences. For example for how long they will allow a car to be illegally parked before affixing a clamp or towing away. Or even which offences they will use these types of enforcements for. Some local authorities such as Westminster council in London publish their protocol on the internet. Others may provide a copy on request. We do not know whether a request for a copy under the freedom of information act would succeed but we believe a local authority should be open and in any event how would you know whether the parking attendant or enforcement officer acted within their remit without sight of this. We would suggest that you check the website of the enforcing authority and if their protocol is not published request a copy.
4.) If you make a representation to a local authority regarding the fixing of a clamp to your vehicle then they must respond within 56 days or they loose the right to contest your appeal and they must refund you.
5.) If you have been clamped the local authority can require you to also pay the penalty charge notice and other outstanding penalty charge notices before releasing your vehicle. If they do this then you should pay under protest.
6.) As a vehicle can only be clamped after a PCN has been affixed was the PCN issued correctly. If you are successful in having the PCN cancelled you should also be reimbursed for the clamping fee. In fact if the PCN was issued incorrectly and the vehicle clamped you may be able to claim compensation from the local authority.
7.) Was the action of the local authority disproportionate. Was it really necessary to clam or remove your vehicle.
To see some summarised adjudicators decisions on clamping and towing away please click here.
Towing away
Each year tens of thousands of people return to the place where they parked their vehicle to find it missing! What do you do? The first reaction of many is that it has been stolen and we are sure that the police receive thousands of calls a year from people reporting their vehicles stolen when they have, in fact, been removed by a local authority. What do you do next? Who do you telephone? Sometimes it is not apparent in which local authority you actually parked. Eventually, after holding on the line being told how sorry they are for keeping you waiting, you find out that your vehicle has been removed by a council and that it is going to cost you a couple of hundred pounds to get it back. Why did they have to remove it? Was a parking ticket of up to £120 not enough for what is quite often an innocent mistake caused by poor signage. We think that some local authorities are more interested in the revenue that they can obtain from vehicle removals. We see many cars removed when the vehicles are not causing an obstruction. How can it be legal? How do they get away with it? These are common thoughts of drivers who have been towed away.
However the tide is turning. In June 2008 Westminster council announced that they were stopping towing away and other local authorities have also taken this decision. The government guidance issued to all local authorities in April 2008 discourages towing away.
Read more about Clamping (immobilisation) and removals in the guidance section.
If you have been clamped or your vehicle has been removed you will need to pay to have it removed but you may be able to claim back the cost if the enforcing authority have not followed the rules regarding clamping or if the penalty charge notice (parking ticket) should not have been issued in the first place. You will usually need to pay the penalty charge notice in addition to the tow away fee but you can do so under protest. In 2008 the government issued guidance to local authorities and included a section on clamping and towing away. There are also other acts which set down the rules for clamping and towing away. If you use the guidance in any appeal to the adjudicator there is no guarantee that he will rule in your favour but, if the council have not followed the guidance. He may well do so and going to the adjudicator will not cost you anything extra under normal circumstances.
The new government guidance issued to local authorities in April 2008 discourages clamping and towing away.. Hopefully very soon clamping will be a thing of the past except in the case of persistent evaders. We suggest that you have a look at this and then return to this page.
Below are some rules which local authorities must follow and some suggestions to try and have your clamping or towing away fee refunded. Of course a clamp can only be fitted or a vehicle removed if a penalty charge notice has been issued first. So check the relevant section on our parking section to see if you have a case to have the ticket cancelled. The clamping or towing away fee will also be refunded if the penalty charge notice is cancelled.
Facts and tips.
1. The towing away of a vehicle should be “proportionate and necessary” according to the national parking adjudication service (NPAS). They cited an example in Bristol of a car which was towed away at night after the £1.50 pay and display ticket for overnight parking slipped and the parking attendant did not see it. The adjudicator found against them on the issue of dis-proportionality.
2. The transport select committee report of 22 June 2006 says that “the government needs to examine the issue (of vehicle removals) carefully and take a view about whether or not it is within the law” The chief parking adjudicator for England and Wales also has concerns that “vehicle removal may be incompatible with human rights legislation”.
3. If you make a representation to a local authority regarding the removal of your vehicle then they must respond within 56 days or they loose the right to contest your appeal and they must refund you.
4. A vehicle cannot be removed from a pay and display or metre bay until at least 30 minutes have elapsed since the end of the paid for time.
5. If you return to your vehicle before the wheels have left the ground or even during the procedure of removing the vehicle you should point out to the parking attendant that the code of practice issued to local authorities in London (and we suspect elsewhere) and the government guidance issued to all local councils in March 2008 states that the vehicle should be returned to the driver. This is also the policy adopted by the metropolitan police.
6. Enforcing authorities will have a protocol stating their policy on enforcement of different offences. For example for how long they will allow a car to be illegally parked before affixing a clamp or towing away. Or even which offences they will use these types of enforcements for. Some local authorities such as Westminster council in London publish their protocol on the internet. Others may provide a copy on request. We do not know whether a request for a copy under the freedom of information act would succeed but we believe a local authority should be open and in any event how would you know whether the parking attendant or enforcement officer acted within their remit without sight of this. We would suggest that you check the website of the enforcing authority and if their protocol is not published request a copy. An adjudicator will also wish to see the councils protocol or instructions to their contractors.
To see some summarised adjudicators decisions on clamping and towing away please click here.
