Posters to warn motorists about clampers

Inderdeep Bains • Published 19 Mar 2009 10:00 0 Comments

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A POSTER campaign warning motorists to beware of clamping in Windsor's private car parks is being launched.

The move comes after ruthless clamping in Castle Car Park has left countless unwary parkers facing hefty fines.

Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for highways and streetcare, said that so many people had fallen foul of the private clampers - but the council was powerless to help.

He said: "We are appalled by some of the clamping experiences we have heard of. People have been reduced to tears as a result and these experiences don't give a good impression of our borough particularly to visitors from overseas and also during this difficult economic period.

"Many drivers have complained to the council, expecting us to be able to do something about the problem. We have taken high level advice and, because the clampers are operating on private land, there is unfortunately nothing we can do."

However, the council will now be putting up warning posters on council-owned lampposts at or adjacent to these car parks.

Cllr Rayner added: "In this way we can alert the public and hopefully keep them out of the clampers' grasp."

People have found their vehicles clamped in Castle Car Park after only a couple of minutes past â€˜time up' or having parked on or over a white line and have been faced with hefty release fees.

The council's advice to the public if using private car parks where clamping companies operate is to park correctly and to make very sure they get back to their vehicles before the time runs out. The campaign will be launched in April.

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 19 Mar 09

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