Ruling against motorist 'further boost to cowboy clampers'

An Appeal Court ruling yesterday on wheel-clamping on private land could create a "cowboy clampers' charter", motoring groups warned.

In London, three judges rejected a motorist's claim that the clamper's demand for a pounds 40 fee to have his car released amounted to blackmail and therefore cancelled out his admittedly deliberate trespass. The ruling contrasted with a Scottish court decision three years ago that clamping in a private car park amounted to theft and extortion.

The Master of the Rolls, Sir Thomas Bingham, held that the clamper who immobilised David Arthur's Rover in a private car park in Truro, Cornwall, had reasonable grounds for demanding payment and was entitled to reinforce his demand by threatening to keep the car clamped until he was paid. Mr Arthur had refused to pay to have his car released and had instead returned later and removed the clamps himself.

The ruling was criticised by the AA and the RAC, who warned it could send the wrong message to unscrupulous clampers. "Cowboy clamping is a Nineties growth industry which costs the motorist pounds 150m per year," said the RAC's campaign's manager Edmund King.

Mr King said the RAC's clamping dossier included a hearse clamped outside a church with the body in the back; clampers who demanded a motorist's gold tooth as payment in Sheffield; and two disabled women in High Wycombe, Bucks, who were clamped after legally parking in disabled bays.

An AA spokesman said: "New government measures to force unscrupulous private wheel clampers out of business, are needed now. Clampers charge as much as they want to release vehicles and they have been known to demand as much as pounds 200 from victims. Many clampers are no more than modern day highwaymen."

However, in yesterday's judgment the court ruled that a clamper could not demand an excessive charge, nor could he exact payment by threatening to damage the vehicle or justify detention after the owner had offered to pay up. But none of those situations arose in Mr Arthur's case.