Relief for desperate motorists as new law gives cowboy clampers the boot

It is the scourge of the motoring public, striking fear into the heart of the most law-abiding of drivers. The car clamp, or so-called Denver Boot, has spread like wildfire across Britain since it was introduced to tackle London's worsening parking congestion in 1983.

Renowned victims have included a hearse with a body on board, a Royal Mail van in the middle of making deliveries and a good samaritan who stopped to help a hit-and-run victim. Motorists can be forced to pay as much as £400 to get their vehicles released.

But unscrupulous "cowboy clampers" will finally be tamed today as a law comes into effect making it illegal to immobilise a car without a licence.

Anybody who wants to go into the clamping business will have to go on an officially recognised training course, complete with "charm school" tips on dealing with irate drivers.

The long delayed measure, which was passed by parliament four years ago, will close a legal loophole allowing a clamping free-for-all on private property. Thousands of motorists face harsh penalties every year from mistakenly parking in "ambiguous" zones such as business parks, housing estates, ostensibly public car parks or paved areas in front of shops.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "What this means is that for the first time ever in England and Wales, there are some restrictions on cowboy clampers.

"Up until now, anybody could come out of Brixton prison with £50 in their pocket and a very long criminal record and go straight into business as a clamper."

Car owners who return to their vehicles to find a clamp will be entitled to ask to see the enforcer's licence. Any clamper who fails to comply faces a £5,000 fine or up to six months in prison.

To motoring organisations, the law is a victory after 11 years of campaigning. They point to a litany of horror stories:

· In Doncaster, a clamping firm threatened to hold a three-year-old girl hostage while her mother went to a cash machine to collect £60 from a bank.

· In Warlingham, Surrey, a disabled man of 82 was clamped in a pub car park because he left the establishment to post a letter before buying his regular half pint. He was told to pay £240 within 20 minutes or see the fine lifted even further.

· A heavily pregnant woman in Essex had to walk two miles to a cash machine to come up with a £75 release fee, while a clamper elsewhere is reputed to have asked for a woman's gold tooth in lieu of a cash payment.

An estimated 350 companies are involved in clamping, raking in £240m of revenue annually - an amount which has risen by 60% since 1997.

"You've got to get into the psyche of these people," said Mr King. "They'll do whatever they can get away with."

Tricks played by clampers to lure victims include positioning "decoy cars" on a patch of land to give an impression that parking is legal. Car parks sometimes apply clamps at an arbitrary, poorly displayed closing time at which point the area becomes "private".

The new law requires a criminal record check on anybody involved in clamping. It introduces a complaints procedure, allowing motorists to appeal to trading standards if they feel they have been treated harshly. Training courses, typically of 30 hours, must be accredited by the Security Industry Authority, which also regulates nightclub bouncers, private investigators and security guards.

However, critics say the crackdown does not go far enough. There will still be no legal limit on the amount clampers can demand for the release of a vehicle.

The British Parking Association, which represents parking companies such as NCP, Vinci Parking and Apcoa, wants private clampers to be bound to a code of conduct which requires clear warning signs, reasonable penalties and a maximum fine of no more than the equivalent levied by local councils.

Keith Banbury, the association's chief executive, said: "Wheel clamping is reasonable provided it is undertaken reasonably. If we want to deal with this issue on behalf of the public, we've got to have the rules very tightly drawn, rather than very loosely."

He predicted that the number of clampers would fall dramatically under the new regime. Of the thousands of clampers in England and Wales, only a few dozen have so far secured licences.

"Some will disappear because the can't comply and they can't get a licence. Others will carry on until they get caught," said Mr Banbury.

Among the firms at the forefront of controversy is Vehicle Clamping Securities, a London-based operation which works for landowners including the Crown Estates, Odeon cinemas, the prison service and EMI. It demands as much as £423 for the return of a vehicle which has been clamped and towed away, plus £35 a day for storage.

Run by a former condom distributor, Costas Constantinou, the company has been dubbed the "Dick Turpin" of clampers by the RAC Foundation. Its website tells landowners that it will "relieve all the pressure of patrolling your premises" free of charge - as long as it can collect and keep parking fines. Nobody was available for comment at its Highgate offices yesterday.

Emotions have run high over clamping ever since the first Denver Boots were introduced under a two-year trial by the Thatcher administration. Within a week of their introduction, one young driver had been fined for illegally ripping off a clamp and using it as a lampstand in his London flat.

The RAC Foundation believes that today's restrictions will kill off the worst excesses of the industry. But it is unlikely that motorists will ever learn to love the clamp. An RAC competition to find Britain's worst clamper attracted hundreds of nominations. An award for a "clamper with a heart" was less successful - with not a single entry.

Stand and deliver

· The first car to be clamped in Britain was a black Volkswagen Golf belonging to a photographer's agent, Stewart Sindell, who parked on a yellow line in Pont Street, west London, in May 1983

· Clamps were nicknamed Denver Boots after the Colorado city of Denver, which was among the first places to use them

· The highest charges found by the RAC have been levied by a London firm, Vehicle Clamping Securities, which demanded £423 to return a clamped and towed away car

· Wheel clamping in Scotland has been illegal on private land since 1992, when it was ruled to be "extortion and theft" in a court judgment

· A driver in Portsmouth was clamped after he stopped because a clamper's lorry had run into the back of his car

· Recent clamping victims include Middlesbrough's mayor Ray Mallon, whose official Smart car was clamped by a private firm, Hadrian Traffic Management, while he opened a nursery last month