The Government must follow the example of Britain and introduce legislation which bans clampers from operating on private lands.
This is the view of Labour councillor Niall McNelis, who is also calling on the Galway City Council to support his call.
Cllr McNelis said clamping vehicles to discourage illegal or dangerous parking on public roads is “perfectly legitimate”, but he is opposed to clamping in private areas, alleging that it is being used by some private site-owners as a form of revenue raising.
“People parking in hotel, hospital, or shopping centre parks often find themselves clamped,” he said, “without adequate signage warning of the need to pay and of an exorbitant charge to have their car unclamped.”
Cllr McNelis said that while locals know where clamping takes place and know to avoid those areas, it is not clear to tourists.
“Greater signage needs to be put in place, to warn visitors,” he said. “What is worse is that in this country there is absolutely no regulation of private clampers, who can do what they want.”
He said that in Britain private operators are no longer able to clamp or tow away vehicles but will, instead, be able to ticket cars which can then be pursued through the civil courts. He wants to see similar legislation introduced in Ireland.
