In the paper today,
A car clamper accused of intimidating motorists is set to be the first in Britain to get an ASBO.
Hundreds of drivers have complained over several years about the methods used by the Carstoppers clamping firm at the beauty spot of Haworth, West Yorkshire.
The firm once immobilised a car while the driver was asleep inside and clamped a minibus taking special needs pupils on a country ride. Carstoppers once won the Dick Turpin award for being the country's worst clampers.
Now one of the company's employees George McDicken, 38, of Ling Park Approach, Wilsden, near Bradford is facing an interim ASBO order.
He is accused of "intimidating and aggressive" behaviour by the authorities seeking the order. The application is due to be heard at Leeds Magistrates Court today (FRI).
The move follows hundreds of complaints to police and Bradford Council about Carstoppers. Traders in Haworth have long complained that over-zealous clamping is affecting the Bronte village's tourist trade.
A Bradford Council spokesman said: "The ASBO application has been brought following numerous complaints to the police and ourselves over a long period of time.
"The case is not actually against clamping, which is legal, it is the behaviour that goes with it."
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "The application comes as a result of complaints against the man in relation to his activities as a wheel clamper in the Haworth area."
Nobody from Carstoppers was available for comment.
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My brother-in law was clamped here. He took us on a trip to Haworth and bought a ticket at the machine. We went on the Steam railway and overstayed at one of the village car parks by 30 mins. It cost us £60 to be un-clamped by two big blokes in an Escort van. Just to add to the intimidation, there was a large barking dog in the van. It didn?t stop my sister giving them ?a piece of her mind? though! These car parks are run as an extortion racket (in my opinion). How can the local council let the reputation of this village be tainted like this?
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"West Yorkshire car clamper to get ASBO.."
How often can we say we've heard a really heartwarming & uplifting story like this. And is there honey still for tea?
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Even better if he'd been clamped in jail...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Over staying by 30 minutes is going to cause you some grief wherever you do it - if you are detected. I think your only complaint here would be the attitude and charming demenour of the operatives and that is what the ASBO is all about in this case, I think. Not the clamping but the attitude!
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This is all very sad. We visited Haworth years ago, I being interested in steam and the gaffer more in the literary connections. Especially gratifying was a place we put up in called The Old Silent Inn (a misnomer in respect of the bar!). I took my brother there later on a detour from his route to Welsh railways for more of the excellent beer.
And now the roost is ruled by a council which sees fit to employ these Carstoppers, so even if I could I would not be going back. That must be great for business.
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dont park in haworth
park in keighley
you can get a return ticket for the full journey for round about a £10 and spend all day at haworth (last train 3.30 i think ) be aware its shut all day monday or it was
you can have a pint in haworth and it will be out of your system by the time you get back to your car
beer and steam---------who needs cars and car parks
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Real ale and steam!!
Which can sometimes involve rubbing shoulders with some very strange types indeed.
If the clampers are employed by the local council, then a much better result would be the imprisonment of the leader of the local council. An ASBO is neither here nor there for a thuggish clamper.
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Message to all - THIS IS A PRIVATE CAR PARK AND NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COUNCIL.
Living not far away and reading of this guy regularly I tell anyone going to Haworth to avoid the car park like the plague. At one point a good samaritan used to go round checking tickets and he would buy a ticket for cars which were running close to time. Needless to say the clampers soon saw him off.
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Is it private land? I read this:
">hundreds of complaints to police and Bradford Council<"
and assumed (perhaps wrongly) that is was the responsibility of the council. If it's private land then there must be a good business case for payment on exit; employ NCP, they are quite good at this sort of thing.
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to update this the look north presenter was getting grief from some very nice members of the public tonight so they had to cut the update off from the carpark,however the gist was that it was the council that went for the asbo.
what would i do?
compulsary purchase the land and to heck with the owners wishes ,its scrap land and i would pay them minimum scrap value
result for locals and tourists
its been empty land for nearly 30 years to my knowledge, so its only worth 3 hovis loaves and an old sit up and beg bicycle at most
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It's a business opportunity, a nice car park with a nice pay and display machine, or better still a proper barrier and a man in one of those odd coats and a peaked hat to take your money.
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n in one of those odd coats and a peaked hat to take your money
And also a real human being reduces the chances of your car being screwed.
We have become a sad little nation of get rich quick lowlives (or is it lowlifes...?)
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I take your point AS. Overstaying would normally attract a penalty charge. I guess none of us could complain, if it cost say, £10.00 or so. After posting my response I saw the item on TV news and recognised the same car-park. The incident to which I referred took place a couple of years ago. At that time, only the general ?terms?, listed on the pay and display machine signage, advertised that clamping was in operation. None of us spotted this, ?till we returned. There were no prominent warnings on the site. It may be different now, but I suspect not. My point is? that these sorts of car parks are designed to trap the unwary, extracting punitive fines for those ?caught?. The fact that this happens in such a charming location, seems sadly out of place.
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If it's private land then there is no penalty charge. There might be an invoice, but they can generally be "managed". Punitive invoices cannot be enforced in law, the invoice must reflect the loss suffered by the owner of the land. It's the clamp that shifts the balance of power. Most signage is flawed.
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