I have long been an advocate of small Government and libertarian policies, however, I am sensing our illustrious Coalition is taking the freewheeling approach a little too far.
The latest move that has caught my sense of reason is the move to make all clamping illegal on private land.
Undoubtedly there are some bad companies who have spoiled the matter for everyone. To be clear, I am entirely against clamping companies bullying and threatening, charging astronomic amounts and sneaking around, catching people erroneously.
However, this draconian measure of making it illegal will cause practicable problems for a large number of sites and estates and make the quiet enjoyment of people’s homes potentially a nightmare.
For example, Boardwalk Place will become a free parking zone for Canary Wharf workers when they are unable to have the clamping patrols keeping it in order. That site is not able to have a barrier because of noise and proximity to the main highway. Therefore, they either face the prospect of a lot of unsightly bollards and the inconvenience of lowering and raising them or have the theft of their parking space.
Surely it would have been way more simple and fair to put in place a cap on what can be charged, requirements on signage and a simple, effective ombudsman to address complaints.
The suggestion of charging people and pursuing through the courts is unworkable, expensive and just going to make it a nightmare for a whole number of people because some won’t respect private land; and some clampers were abusing the system!
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