Don’t leave drivers at parking firms’ mercy

SCOTLAND took an early and enlightened stance against cowboy clampers with a decision that holding a vehicle to ransom until a fine was paid was illegal extortion.

Since then, cars may only be clamped or removed from private property with police involvement – and so we have been spared the horror stories from England where usurious rates have been charged and even a hearse on its way to a funeral was clamped.

But a new menace has arisen as private firms take over traditional car parks and use Big Brother-style automatic number-plate recognition systems to track – and harass – motorists.

An investigation by the Mail has uncovered a shambolic and chaotic industry preying on motorists. Drivers have been hit with fines for returning a few seconds late to their vehicle or for inadvertently putting in the letter O instead of the figure zero when supplying their registration number.

The situation is worsened by a legal grey area. The industry maintains its fines are enforceable and warns of dire consequences for those who ignore their menacing demands for money. They cite the case of a Dundee woman ordered to pay £24,500 in parking fines as a precedent. Yet, for years many people have believed parking firms’ threats are simple bullying and can be ignored.

All this is exacerbated by the lack of any independent appeals procedure. Motorists who feel wronged must throw themselves on the mercy – and there is precious little evidence that they have any – of the firm which issued the penalties in the first place.

That flies in the face of natural justice since the companies have a vested interest in rejecting appeals. They are judge, jury and executioner.

Parking firms are running wild, making the lives of innocent Scots a misery. The case for rapid action from Holyrood is unquestionable. The Scottish Government must introduce proper licensing and regulation with a robust and independent appeals system weighted in favour of put-upon motorists and not unscrupulous businesses.