Alert over new laws on wheel clamping.

Byline: By STEWART SMITH [e-mail]

BOSSES in Coventry and Warwickshire have been warned over a looming crackdown on wheel-clamp "cowboys".

Many owners and occupiers of business premises rely on outside specialists to clamp and tow away illicitly-parked vehicles - often without asking too many questions about how the job is done.

But that will have to change next February, when everyone involved in the so-called "vehicle immobilisation" sector - from company directors down to on-street clampers - will have to be licensed by the new Security Industry Authority, according to real estate litigation specialist Katherine Campbell, in the Midlands office of law firm Reed Smith. She says: "Occupiers of property will have to ensure that anyone they employ to clamp or tow vehicles away - either directly or through a contractor - is properly licensed by the SIA.

"And they will want to get it right. On summary conviction, the maximum penalty is six months and/or a fine up to pounds 5,000; on indictment the penalty can be up to five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine."

She said wheel clamping seemed an attractive solution to the problem of strangers occupying spaces intended for a firm's employees and visitors.

"But there have been reports of wheel-clamp firms virtually holding vehicles to ransom to force vulnerable people to part with quite large sums of money."

She reminded business people they were legally responsible for the actions of contractors working on their behalf.