Wednesday 20th October 2010 - Published by Kelly Jackson - Communications Executive
Outlawing us is a wheely bad idea, say National Clamps chairman
THE chairman of Preston-based wheel clamping company National Clamps has fired a warning about the potential consequences of Home Office plans to outlaw the practice.
Trevor Whitehouse said the government's decision could lead to potentially explosive situations where members of the public decide to take matters into their own hands.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Vehicle Immobilisers Network he said: "I believe people will find themselves drawn into grave and imminent danger and serious and threatening situations of conflict, private land owners WILL have to deal with rogue parkers on their own. Mr Whitehouse predicts ‘Someone is going to die or will be significantly injured.’
"My staff are all SIA approved, some of them have over 15 years experience, ALL of them have been trained in conflict management and still all too often they have been faced with some genuinely frightening experiences. Operatives have been attacked and spat on, there have been assaults with baseball bats which have led to injuries resulting in victims requiring surgery and on one occasion a member of staff was left with a deformity."
He added: "Ticketing does not work for private land owners. Society has changed, many people don’t respect authority making parking tickets very difficult to enforce. Clamping was introduced to solve a problem, and quite obviously the problem still exists. You don’t end up with 2150 vehicle imobilisers without good reason. I would not have 850 customers if everyone parked where they should and private land owners were not having issued on their sites. Proprietors who are passionate about their land may try to take the law into their own hands which could lead to violent confrontations."
When asked how he would deal with so-called 'rogue clampers', he said: "Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the Crime and Security Act 2010 deal with area; with guidelines for timing between clampings and a capped release fee. Powers given to the SIA can result in the prosecution of offenders."
National Clamps was established 22 years ago and is one of the industry’s most respected companies, operating in more than 200 towns and cities in England and Wales.
The company, which also monitors pay and displays, has a range of blue chip clients including Cambridge University, Kidderminster Hospital and Network Rail, as well as numerous shopping centre’s, office blocks and housing associations throughout the UK.
National Clamps2 - a pr2go story
