Now council introduces 'three parking tickets and you're clamped' rule

Parking attendants with hand-held computers will have access to a register of persistent parking offenders.

If they spot a car's unpaid penalties on their electronic logs they can call in a clamping van to immobilise the vehicle or tow it away until the cash is recovered.  

New stricter rules could see more cars being clamped or towed away

Council parking attendants in London will be allowed to clamp a car which has at least three unpaid parking fines  -  even if it is legally parked when it is spotted.

Motorists who fail to pay fines for other offences, such as driving in a bus lane or blocking a yellow box junction, face a similar punishment.

The powers have initially been given to local authorities in London under a Bill coming into force in two months' time.

It is believed other councils across the country will adopt similar tactics in due course.

The four London authorities holding a six-month trial of the new powers are Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, and Transport for London, the body responsible for all the main roads across the capital.

Permanently parked: A clamped Smart car in Harley Street, London

The law will also trap visitors from overseas as it makes no distinction between cars registered in Britain and those with foreign number plates

The capital is seen as having the worst problem with fine dodgers.

Transport for London says the top 20 worst evaders have run up 1,712 unpaid parking and traffic fines between them. One unnamed offender is credited with 174 outstanding penalty charge notices.

Edmund King, president of the AA, welcomed the powers.

'The AA has regularly called for changes to parking enforcement which are aimed at targeting the persistent offender rather than person who makes the odd mistake,' he said.

'These tough measures should have no impact on most drivers but will let those who laugh at the system know that they cannot keep getting away with it.'

But there is also disquiet. Barrie Segal of motorists' champion AppealNow fears innocent motorists could run foul of the crackdown.

'There is a danger that cars will be towed away to the obscurity of a car pound, when
appeals are pending,' he said.

'This is going to put enormous burdens on a motorist in making sure that councils have registered an appeal.'

The Government had originally floated the idea of a national 'three tickets and you're clamped' system, but developed cold feet in the wake of a series of database blunders.

Now it says it is up to local authorities to organise themselves if they want to share data.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'The Government has no plans to create a new national database of persistent offenders.

'It is for local authorities, as the relevant enforcement authorities, to consider how data could be shared between themselves for civil enforcement purposes.

'We understand London authorities have set up their own system and have themselves considered how this data could be shared with authorities outside London. This is a matter for local authorities.'

The department said that Section 79 of the Traffic Management Act, which operates nationally, 'specifically limits the scope of immobilisation and vehicle removal' to where a car is parked illegally.

The spokesman added: 'Current statutory guidance to local authorities in England defines persistent evaders as those motorists with three or more recorded contraventions for the vehicle where the penalty charge notices for these have not been paid.'