Wheelclamping (Hansard, 20 June 1995)

§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, the Government believe that the activities of some wheelclamping companies are not acceptable. But any remedy to this problem of unscrupulous clampers should not interfere with sensible measures to control parking on private land. The Government see the need to protect both the landowner and the motorist. We are looking for a solution which is cost-effective and which will work.

Lord Campbell of Croy
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for her reply. Did she note a case last month in which civil proceedings were successful in Newcastle, but only through the determination and the persistence of the victim? Should not more now be done in England and Wales to prevent pirates from operating on waste or unsupervised land, and holding their victims to ransom for large sums? This of course does not affect the need to get permission to park on private land. Will the Government now announce a clampdown on cowboy clampers?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, first of all, we recognise that to seek redress through civil courts can take a long time and we are seeking solutions which will offer clamped motorists a more speedy solution to their problem. I should also say that only last week my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor warmly welcomed the publication of Lord Justice Woolf s interim report, which will of course speed up the process. We think that will help. But I repeat what I said at the beginning, we recognise that this is a problem. We want a solution but it must be enforceable and cost-effective; and at the end of the day it must work.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that it is high time to deprivatise the whole of this clamping racket?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I am not sure if deprivatising the whole of it is the answer; but your Lordships will know that there has been a good deal of debate over the private security industry—perhaps more than there has been over the wheelclamping industry. I am not sure that the two industries are entirely comparable although I agree that there is some overlap. The important thing is to find a solution which works for wheelclamping 153 and which is cost-effective and enforceable. Where wheelclamping is handled responsibly, it prevents the tiresome habit of parking which sometimes blocks important pathways—for example, pathways into hospitals and schools and other places. But what we want is a sense of balance. Where the cowboys are operating, we want to establish an effective system to do something about that.

§ Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
My Lords, will my noble friend tell the House what conclusions were drawn from the consultative paper issued last year?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I can tell my noble friend that it was inconclusive. I am afraid that there was no consensus. There was a good deal of useful information but I am afraid there is no real consensus on this issue. There is a landowning interest; there is a proper business and commercial interest; and there is the interest, as I have already said, of schools and hospitals. However, there is also the interest of getting rid of the tiresome business of cowboy operators in the field. What we are looking for is a solution that will work and will do something about that.

§ Lord Strabolgi
My Lords, quite apart from the cowboys, is an owner of private land entitled to detain vehicles and clamp them? How long is he allowed to keep them, and is he entitled to levy fines before they are released?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, as the law stands at the moment, someone on private land can put up a notice and can suggest that anyone who parks on that land will suffer the consequence of his vehicle being clamped and in order to retrieve the vehicle a fee will need to be paid. One of the problems—I suspect this was mentioned by my noble friend Lord Campbell of Croy—is that some people are operating without putting up notices spelling out the consequences of certain actions, and sometimes they are operating without even the permission of the owners of the land. Some people are operating as clampers freely on anyone's piece of land. An owner of private land can use clamping as a deterrent against people parking on the land.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that the present legal situation, which was not designed for this at all, is rather confused and is highly unsatisfactory? Is it the understanding—is this right—that the Government are considering the formulation and the introduction of some new legal regime; some new regulations? If they are, can they consider including in that a provision to make it an offence for anyone to clamp a car on private land, or any vehicle on private land, that displays a disabled person's orange badge?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, my noble friend is right; the law is under consideration on this matter and it is inadequate. As my noble friend probably knows, many of the cases which underpin the law of trespass in civil law are of some antiquity and are based on straying animals rather than wrongfully parked vehicles. The relevant legal principles cannot therefore always be stated. My noble-friend also mentioned orange badges. The consultation 154 exercise acknowledged the need to consider the position of orange badge holders. We have not moved from that view—we are looking into that, too.