Labour defeats attempt to weaken new wheel clamping rules

Hull North MP Diana Johnson has condemned Opposition MPs for seeking to water down action to clamp down on unfair practices by private wheel clampers.

The Labour Government's Crime and Security Bill, which received its third reading in the Commons yesterday evening (8 March), contains new powers to tackle the financial exploitation of the public by licensing wheel clamping businesses.

The Bill introduces compulsory licensing to regulate the practices of businesses carrying out vehicle immobilisation and towing away on private land. New rules include:

Limits on the size of penalty fees;

Regulation of towing and other practices;

Requirements for adequate warning signs; and

An effective and fair complaints process.

Failure to comply with the code, or operating without a business license, would now be a criminal offence. Illegal wheel clamping would carry a possible prison sentence of up to five years.

The measures follow public outrage in Hull and across the country last year at the practices employed against motorists by some private wheel clamping firms. This led to a Home Office consultation on the clamping industry, to which Diana Johnson MP made a full written submission.

Previously, MPs from both Opposition parties had given the impression that they supported action to regulate wheel clamping. However, the Government had to overcome an attempt by the Conservatives to reduce the punishment for illegal wheel clamping from up to five years in prison to two.

Meanwhile, in the Bill's recent committee stage Lib Dems had voted against the wheel clamping regulations in their entirety.

Hull North's local MP Diana Johnson said: "I am pleased that the Commons has voted through the Labour Government's new rules to clamp down on the practices employed by private wheel clampers.

"It is also good news for all those in Hull who wanted action against cowboy clampers that the Conservative attempt to weaken the punishments available against illegal clamping has been seen off in the Commons.

"I was also dismayed that Lib Dem MPs voted against these new powers in the Bill's Committee Stage when the proposals were discussed in detail. The Lib Dems claim that they wanted the new rules to go further. However, their opportunist all-or-nothing approach of voting against these new powers would merely let the worst wheel clampers off the hook and allow them to continue as before.

"I believe that these Government measures to regulate clamping strike a fair balance between the legitimate right of landowners to control parking on their land and the motorist's right not to be ripped off by the unfair and underhand practices that were exposed in Hull last year."

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