"They say that appears to constitute theft, also a crime."
"I think it's ridiculous," says Stephanie Filipelli."
"Unethical," adds Robert Soelberg, a retired police officer.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!
Thanks!
"I'm fed up with this issue and I cannot accept any arguments from staff that there's nothing we can do because this action occurs on private property," said Boudreau.
He added the municipal building inspectors regulate the number of parking spaces rental houses must have on their property, so there must be a way to regulate private parking as well.
He asked city manager Jacques Dubé to prepare a bylaw for the next council meeting June 21.
Until then, he said, he'll be boycotting any businesses that boot.
"This is a straightforward matter. Let's ban those idiotic items!" he said. "This booting stuff is insane."
Francisco Guzman, who was parked just a few spots down, said he also paid the parking fee.
"There's a ticket here, and there's a couple of boots on my wheels," he said.
"We paid our $5," one angry customer told the parking lot attendant. "Where did it go?"
"There should be a camera showing that he put the money in there, because I witnessed him putting the money in there," said another irate customer. "We're not crazy. It has to be some kind of scam or something."
The drivers had to pay $100 to get the boots removed from their cars.
"This is theft, because I did pay the $5," Guzman said.
The car owners said they plan to appeal the fines they had to pay to get the boots removed from their vehicles."
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
A growing number of folks have parked in unattended lots, left their money in a steel box as instructed and returned to their cars to find a boot on the tire. The men in bulletproof vests who arrive to remove the boot will only set vehicles free for a large fee. Assertions that they paid to park get car owners nowhere, leaving them stranded with an immobile vehicle.
Finally, though, the city of Dallas is cracking down on booters gone bad.
Posted by Mike O."
Source: http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2010/jan/02/how-combat-parking-lot-fraud/
Total Parking Solutions, a Seattle-area company, has been operating without a city business permit, according to officials with the Treasurer's Office in San Diego. Lot attendants have been demanding that vehicle owners pay $280 to remove boots from cars parked in business parking lots."
SOURCE: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/220385_clamping16.html
FULL RIGHT OF APPEAL
Motorists who receive penalties on public roads have a legal right to an independent appeal. Motorists clamped on private land are at the mercy of a completely unregulated regime.
At best, firms offer a right of appeal only to themselves, and are obliged only to send a letter explaining why the penalty is being upheld.
AN INDEPENDENT TRIBUNAL SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED TO HEAR APPEALS BY MOTORISTS WHO ARE CLAMPED ON PRIVATE LAND.
STRICT LIMITS ON PENALTIES
For parking offences on public land, maximum penalties are fixed by the Department for Transport. Outside of London, the upper limit is £70. Inside the capital, it increases to £120.
The charge for recovering a vehicle which has been towed away is £105, with a storage charge of £12 per day. The maximum charge for removing a clamp is £40.
On private land, clampers can charge whatever they want. Drivers regularly receive demands for £500.
THE MAXIMUM PENALTIES FOR INFRINGEMENTS ON PRIVATE LAND SHOULD BE IDENTICAL TO THOSE ON PUBLIC ROADS.
RESTRICTIONS ON TOWING
Councils are advised to remove a vehicle only if it is causing a danger, blocking access or if it appears to have been abandoned.
Private clampers routinely tow vehicles away within minutes of a parking offence taking place. This allows them to maximise profits by charging for both the removal of the vehicle and the original penalty.
NO VEHICLE SHOULD BE TOWED AWAY UNLESS IT IS POSING A DANGER, BLOCKING ACCESS OR HAS BEEN ABANDONED.
INCENTIVES FOR CLAMPING
Councils are instructed not to offer incentives to traffic wardens to penalise as many motorists as possible. Because private car parks are unregulated, no such arrangements exist.
Deals can be struck between clampers and landowners to pay a commission for each motorist who is forced to pay a penalty.
THE USE OF INCENTIVES SHOULD BE BANNED. CLAMPING FIRMS SHOULD RECEIVE A FIXED SUM FOR POLICING PRIVATE LAND, REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY MOTORISTS ARE ISSUED WITH PENALTIES."
"Car clampers are on the rise as the number of people holding licences for the unpopular practice has soared this year."
At present, motorists appeal to the clampers themselves – scandalously allowing them to act as judge and jury.
"Do I think this will end all booting problems in Deep Ellum? No, because I still think there will be unscrupulous and unethical booting companies. But the city now has some method of penalizing these people in a forceful way," she said.
“We want to make sure that best practice is being observed and we want to make sure that motorists are not being bullied or intimidated.”
"This is the biggest scam I've ever seen. I was visiting in Charlotte, had a couple of minutes for a cup of coffee, decided to run into Starbucks. I was driving a big truck and couldn't fit in the small parking spaces behind Starbucks, so I parked in the lot behind that. I was in Starbucks less than 5 minutes, came out to get in my truck and couldn't believe this thing was attached to my wheel! This is extortion. All he has to do is sit there and collect money from innocent, unsuspecting people, while telling you there IS a sign there. (But it's in 10 pt type.) I went into the office and told the lady I don't know how she can sleep at night! How can we get the word out? I am sending a letter to Starbucks asking that they put a sign on their door!"
July 18, 2009 by Kris in Frankfort, KY
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Outlaw Private wheel clamping and vehicle removal companies. More details
Submitted by Tom Halvey – Deadline to sign up by: 15 January 2008 – Signatures: 263
"
"The Facts about wheel-clamping in Scotland, in 1992 wheel-clamping on private land was banned overnight, as it was declared to be extortion and theft. * Many clampers don’t have offices and work from PO Box addresses or from mobile phones. Charges can range from around £50 to over £500 for the removal of clamps and towing away fees. The government brought in legislation that has effectively legitimised extortion by clamping companies, how can clamping be a crime of extortion in one part of the U.K. and is then legitimised in another area of the U.K.
Fines/costs levied are far in excess of anything that could be called reasonable.We are concerned that there are inherent flaws with the licensing scheme arising from the fact that there is no enforceable code of practice that clampers have to abide by upon receiving a licence and are still able to charge as much as they like. The government should look to rectify this as a matter of urgency."
The Facts about wheel-clamping
Examples of Cowboy Clamping behaviour
The RAC Foundation has received hundreds of complaints about cowboy clampers over recent years. Our dossier of cases includes:
Legislation
and
"The boot serves no purpose... it's a straight up money grab. It doesn't free up a parking space - which is supposed to be the reason for enforcing illegal parking anyway.
At least towing frees up the parking space for those who are "supposed to be there"... or at least that's the excuse.
These predatory tow companies are the lowest forms of life."
Tyres on the clamping company's van were slashed as tempers flared and police were called."
"Lewes MP Norman Baker, who was browsing nearby stalls, said the row highlighted the need for greater scrutiny of the way clampers operated and the fines they charged."
The public have absolutely no protection if a private parking firm acts unfairly
Paul Watters, the AA
"I've lost customers," he said. "Maybe (the parking crackdown) it's necessary, but the implementation's been bad. They've got these tiny little signs with small print that are about the size of a stop sign."
SOURCE: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/793288
"Using a clamp to immobilize a vehicle is to deprive the owner of the vehicle of the use of his property. That vehicle is being held for ransom, basically, until the owner pays the money to release it...That's an impound."
