Byrne welcomes clamp down on rogue operators

Fine Gael Dublin South Central TD, Catherine Byrne, has today (Tuesday) welcomed the Government’s new legislation targeting rogue clamping operators.

“I welcome the publication of the Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar TD. This new Bill will legislate for consistency in the area of clamping as it will regulate clamping on private property for the first time.

“Up until now the legislation only covered clamping activity on public roads. However there has been an issue with some management companies in private apartment and housing complexes making decisions on parking spaces and installing yellow lines. They contract private clamping companies, and can make life very difficult for residents, who already pay a premium for a parking space but may sometimes need to park another car belonging to a spouse, relative or visitor.

“In my own constituency of Dublin South Central, I know of many private developments where residents experience problems with private clamping operators. I am therefore very pleased that the private operators will now be regulated and will have to adhere to a code of practise, as they previously were a law unto themselves.

“Furthermore a default maximum clamping release fee of €100 will now apply to private property clamping. Before now private operators could charge what they liked for clamp release and many were abusing this situation.

“Of course we need clamping to ensure that people park responsibly around the city. A pet hate of mine is the practise of parking a car with all four wheels up on the footpath. This is disastrous for people in wheelchairs or those pushing buggies, as it often means they have to take the dangerous step of going out into the traffic on the road to get around the irresponsibly parked car.

“So while I feel clamping is necessary for these sorts of reasons, I am very glad to see that private clampers will now be brought into line with the existing rules for local authority operators and will be regulated.”