WA government moves to ban wheel clamp ‘thugs and bullies’ from car parks

Ms Saffioti said the government was looking at similar legislation in the eastern states, and WA’s legislation would be introduced “as quickly as possible”.

“All over the suburbs of perth we’re seeing people being unfairly wheel clamped,” Mr McGowan said.

“Mothers are going shopping and coming out and finding their car wheel clamped, people are parking and going to work and coming out and finding their car wheel clamped, and the people doing this are often thugs and bullies so we’re going to stop this awful practice from continuing in the future.”

Mr McGowan said he had heard stories from business owners where inspectors will wait for people to park and walk off before swooping in to clamp cars, “and therefore make thousands of dollars a day out of clamping people’s vehicles when people are doing the right thing.”

“This is annoying the hell out of people all over Perth and we’re going to make sure it stops because it is wrong and it’s unfairly targeting innocent people and it’s making money out of people who shouldn’t have to pay and can’t afford to pay,” he said.

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Ms Saffioti said the government didn’t want to see “vulnerable people taken advantage of by companies who are there simply to make a quick buck”.

The City of Stirling last year vowed to become the first local government to abolish wheel clamping, and its council voted in November to ban the practice.

Wheel clamping in the City has long been a heated issue that ramped up when several families’ cars parked in a private car park had their wheels clamped while attending the free community Christmas carols event on Scarborough foreshore.

It has also become a heated point of contention in Myaree’s Hulme Court, where a local frozen yoghurt shop owner told Gareth Parker on 6PR Radio’s Mornings that clampers sat and waited in their cars, spying on shoppers who parked outside his business and waiting for them to cross the road before quickly getting out to clamp their vehicles.

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When the customers returned they had to fork out often about $150-170 to get the clamp removed.

There were no current laws regulating wheel clamping in WA but according to Consumer Protection, drivers who parked on private property agreed to comply with the conditions of entry.

Those conditions could include a time limit and provisions around which businesses people access after parking their vehicle.

However, those conditions must be clearly signposted with warnings of possible clamping or towing, if applicable.