Environment Committee welcomes Minister’s commitment to introduce clamping legislation based on Committee report

In February, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, TD, asked the Committee to take a role in the pre-Heads of Bill stage and contribute to the initial drafting of the legislation to regulate the vehicle clamping industry. This was the first time that a Committee has been asked to help draft Heads of a Bill.

Deputy Lynch, TD said: “On behalf of the Committee, I would like to welcome the Minister’s commitment to introduce legislation to regulate the vehicle clamping industry based on recommendations and observations contained in our report.

The Minister asked the Committee to take a role in the pre-Heads of Bill stage and contribute to the initial drafting of the legislation to regulate the vehicle clamping industry. This was the first time that a Committee was asked to help draft Heads of a Bill. The over-arching aim of our report was to present a number of possible options to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar for inclusion in the forthcoming Bill on vehicle clamping.

Our report looked at the necessity for regulating vehicle clamping, both on public and private property, to ensure a consistent and fair approach is applied regardless of whether the property involved is public or private.

The report also recommended that release fees should be reasonable and clamping should not be used as a profit generating exercise. The Joint Committee also considered that a band of release fees should be prescribed ranging from a minimum to a maximum amount, and that it should be a reserved function of local authorities to set the release fee most appropriate to their administrative area.”

Among the key recommendations and conclusions of the report are:

• The Joint Committee considers that any forthcoming legislation deal with clamping on public and private land to ensure a co-ordinated approach;
• There should be standardisation of penalties, signage, training and appeal processes and any proposed legislation should not differentiate between these on the basis of public versus private property;
• There should be one national regulator and that the National Transport Authority is best placed to assume that role;
•  In order to clamp a vehicle an operator must be licensed and registered. The regulator should be the licensing authority;
•  In order to obtain a licence, operators must be tax compliant, have a registered office, appropriate insurance cover, and be required to submit an annual report to the regulator;
• A two-tier appeals process, comprising an initial appeal to the clamping company or authority itself, with subsequent recourse to a national independent Parking Appeals Officer represents best practice;
• Details of the appeals process should be immediately available on the issue of a fine or the fitting of a vehicle clamp (e.g. on the back of the clamping notice);
• One of the statutory functions of the regulator would be to draw up a mandatory code of practice for all clamping operators;
• A specific period be provided for the release of vehicle clamps, and where that period is exceeded that the release fee be refunded;
• Where a clamp has not been fully fitted by the time a motorist returns to their car, the clamper should immediately cease and release the vehicle;
• Staff of clamping companies should be vetted by An Garda Síochána, receive appropriate training resulting in certification and  be required to carry (and present) identification, and details of the licence to clamp at all times;
• Legislation should provide for a maximum release fee regardless of whether the operator is a private company or a local authority;
• Release fees should be reasonable and clamping should not be used as a profit generating exercise. The Joint Committee further considers that a band of release fees should be prescribed ranging from a minimum to a maximum amount, and that it should be a reserved function of local authorities to set the release fee most appropriate to their administrative area (within this band);
• Release fees charged by private operators be linked to that of their local authority;
• There should be a graduated scale of release fee based upon the seriousness of the parking infringement;
• The Joint Committee considers that private clamping operators be precluded from using premium rate or high rate telephone numbers for the release of clamps. Instead a Freephone, local rate (1890) or national rate number (0818) would be required so that there is a standard charge regardless of where a person is telephoning from.

Read the report here: http://bit.ly/H0lCFA

For further information please contact:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551

Committee Membership

Deputies:

Ciarán Lynch, Labour Party (Chairman)
Noel Coonan, Fine Gael (Vice-Chairman)
James Bannon, Fine Gael
Paudie Coffey, Fine Gael
Terence Flanagan, Fine Gael
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, Fine Gael
Tony McLoughlin, Fine Gael
Patrick O’Donovan, Fine Gael
Brian Walsh, Fine Gael
Kevin Humphreys, Labour Party
Gerald Nash, Labour Party
Seán Kenny, Labour Party
Robert Troy, Fianna Fáil
Timmy Dooley, Fianna Fáil
Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil
Sandra McLellan, Sinn Féin
Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin
Brian Stanley, Sinn Féin
Clare Daly, Socialist Party
Catherine Murphy, Independent
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Independent
 
Senators:

Cáit Keane, Fine Gael
Catherine Noone, Fine Gael
Labhrás Ó’Murchú, Fianna Fáil
Ned O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil
Fiach Mac Conghail, Independent