Wheel-clamping on private
land.
Unlike on-street clamping, which is tightly regulated, the opposite
is true of private clamping, which is completely unregulated and
open to abuse.
Scottish Courts in 1992 decided that the Clamping of a vehicle
and the demand of a release fee on private ground amounted to
theft and extortion. It was not until
a 1995 Landmark ruling by Law Lords in the Court of Appeal, that
the position of the English Courts on clamping on private ground
became clear. We have provided details of this case in our Legal section in our Downloads area.
Although the particular case in question was rejected by the
Court of Appeal, with the Law Lords expressly ruling that clamping
was in principle lawful, they ruled that certain condition must
apply, which include:
• There must be notices displayed where you can clearly
see them, warning that unauthorised vehicles will be clamped.
• The landowner cannot charge more than a reasonable
fee to release your vehicle.
• Your vehicle must be released as soon as you have said
you will pay the release fee.
• There must be a way for you to get in touch with the landowner
(or their agent) to make arrangements to pay.
If your vehicle has been clamped on private ground, there are
a number of things that we advise you should do. These include
the following:
• Ask the wheelclampers who they work for, and whether
the landowner's authority can be produced, and if they have identification.
If you don't get satisfactory answers, call the police –
the wheel clampers may be guilty of a criminal offence.
• When you pay, insist on a receipt and try to get the
address and phone number at which the wheelclamper and landowner
can be contacted.
• If you want to challenge the clamping: perhaps because
of poor signing, you should try to use a disposable camera to
take pictures as evidence.
• The wheelclamper must by law have a SIA Licence, (see
our next section for further details). Ask to see a copy of his
licence.
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