Parking enforcers told: Carry on clamping

LABOUR councillors have told parking enforcers: ‘Carry on clamping!’.
The order came despite a demand from Lib Dem and Conservative members to axe the controversial penalty.
Labour used its majority position at the Town Hall to outflank opponents in a crucial vote at Monday’s full council meeting, guaranteeing that car clamps will remain a fixture on the borough’s roads.
Members were later warned that their decision to reject the change would come back to haunt them at May’s council elections when frustrated drivers took revenge at the ballot box.
The issue was catapulted back onto the council agenda by a motion from the Lib Dem camp demanding an immediate end to clamping.
The penalty has already been stopped in neighbouring Islington, currently controlled by the Lib Dems.
Deputy Lib Dem leader Councillor Flick Rea said: “There is still no need to treat the motorist as a hardened criminal.”
The issue has been simmering at the Town Hall for several months but an internal investigation into parking controls in the borough failed to trigger an immediate ban.
Instead, councillors asked for more research into the pros and cons of clamping, a review that, according to Labour members, is already under way.
Councillor Maggie Cosin, the Labour councillor who ran the probe, said that no Lib Dem members had raised concerns about clamping to her panel, accusing them of taking up a populist issue in the run-up to the elections. She told the meeting: “The Lib Dems are being their usual populist selves and don’t know which way to turn.”
But the Lib Dems did gain the support of the Conservative group, which swung behind the motion.
Conservative leader Councillor Piers Wauchope said he had recommended the change last summer, adding: “We all know Camden tickets to make money rather than for traffic management. Clamping is not used in the rest of the country – these activities are not used by councils, definitely not used as they are in Camden to make money. The rest of the country doesn’t do it.”