Our car was clamped while parked at the NET Forest Tram Park and Ride in Nottingham, and we had to pay £140 to have it freed.
The prominent signs displayed at the entrance state that those parking without using the tram will be clamped. We did use the tram to and from the city centre after walking in the adjacent park.
It was the enforcement officer who pointed out a notice on the back of the entrance sign which stated, in small print, that drivers have to buy a ticket on arrival. We appealed citing inadequate signs but the appeal was rejected.
RB, Nottingham
I’ve studied photos of the different signs and it seems that the requirement to buy a tram ticket on arrival is mentioned in minute print some way down small green posters dotted around the huge site. Large red signs visible to all merely say car park users must use the tram – which you did.
The Q&A leaflet about the site also makes no mention of this crucial caveat. In any case, £140 seems an excessive penalty given that drivers who contravene parking restrictions elsewhere in the city are fined £50, which is halved if paid promptly.
Clamping was outlawed on private land nationally in 2012 but Nottingham’s park and ride sites are owned by the local authority which has awarded Nottingham Tramlink a private finance initiative contract to run them along with the tram service. Local authorities can still use clamps.
According to statutory guidance from the Department for Transport (DfT), they should only be used in limited circumstances for persistent offenders, or a failure to pay a previous penalty charge.
The guidance also says they should be proportionate and reasonable. However, councils are allowed to draw up bylaws for specific sites, setting their own parking rules and penalties. Once these bylaws have been approved by the DfT, they and their contractors can enforce them without regard to the guidance.
Nottingham city council confirmed that its approved bylaws permit vehicles to be immobilised so Nottingham Tramlink can clamp away.
That still leaves the question of the signs, which must be clear and unambiguous for enforcement measures to be valid.
Tramlink’s CEO Tim Hesketh insists that the instructions are “clearly visible”. The £140 release fee is, he says, set and retained by the private enforcement company it contracts.
He adds: “The option of amending the bylaws to allow the introduction of a parking, or penalty charge notice, has already been explored extensively by Tramlink before deciding on our current process which we believe to be the most fit for purpose.”
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