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Parking enforcement agencies

The existence of parking enforcement agencies presupposes that simply communicating that the owners or managers of property forbid third party parking is not sufficient and that the task of enforcement of the owner"s desire is the responsibility of designated third parties.

Of necessity, the chosen agency has to use negative reinforcement; it is hardly possible to actually reward people for not parking there, so, a punishment or a warning of punishment is necessary.

Parking enforcement agencies are the perquisite of:

  • Countries with "high rent" economies and intensely concentrated infrastructures
  • Places where social consensus is weak enough for messaging of the owner"s wish on its own is insufficient
  • The law permits third parties to enforce the orders of property owners

For some decades the two top deterrents have been:

  • The wheel clamp
  • Towing away

And both of these are on the way out, partly because of lobbying bordering on the intense from the motoring lobby.

In the case of the wheel clamp the distraught owner returns to his vehicle and finds he cannot drive it away because a device is there with notification on the windscreen that a charge has to be paid before the release of the clamp.

Towing away is the prerogative of government (central and local) and it is usually impossible for a private landowner to be able to do this, except by a judge"s permission.

In Britain motoring experts have stated that the wheel clamping fraternity is populated mostly by thugs who bear on their persons evidences of past involvements in violence, partly, no doubt, brought about as a result of their line of work.

While local authorities continue to use towing away, at least for the time being, the approaching wheel clamping ban brought about in the United Kingdom by the determined and indefatigable MP Lynne Featherstone raises the question: When the wheel clamp is history what deterrent can the private landowner use legally to stop people making free with his/her precious parking spaces?

The man-made miracle of advanced telecommunications in general and the Internet in particular make possible the answer. Make no mistake; the property owner will not rest until the law permits a legal remedy for unpermitted third party parking on his premises.

The innovative company Flashpark has an answer that utilises:

  • The use of digital photography via the Internet
  • Permission to consult the DVLA register to identify registered vehicle owners" contact details

It is almost a dead certainty that this way of parking enforcement by agents is the future and we fairly confidently predict that Flashpark"s method will be replicated internationally soon.