Man fined for destroying clamp in Portsmouth

A motorist has been fined £150 for destroying a parking wheel clamp.

Ryan Kerry admitted damaging the Shoal Enforcement clamp when he appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court.

Kerry, 26, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, was visiting Portsmouth when his car was clamped.

He will also have to pay 100 in costs.

27 May 2011

A member of our staff immobilised two cars parked in private resident’s bays, at Gunwharf on Wednesday. A plain clothes Police Officer produced his warrant card and requested that both vehicles be released. Our member of staff confirmed he would release the vehicles if the Police officer would provide confirmation that he was on duty. The Police officer declined and arrested our member of staff for obstruction.

At no time did the Police Officer identify himself as a Royal Protection Officer or make any mention of the Queens’s visit.

There were no officers in the vehicles at any time during the incident.

January 2011

Clamping ban update

Plans to ban Wheel Clamping have been placed on hold following a legal challenge that have been served on the Government.

At a recent BPA Meeting, representatives from the Home office stated if the government proceeded with bad it would be unlikely to take effect for at least 18 months.

August 2010

Following the recent announcements by the Liberal democrat MP to ban clamping, we feel the need to keep you up to date with the news and how it will affect you.

Firstly this is purely a proposal and not law there is a long process until this becomes law if it ever does.

The land owners of this country are a very powerful lobby and will not allow someone to dictate to them who they may or may not allow on their land.

No one knew about this – it is a proposed amendment to a bill that has still to go through the House of Commons, Committee stage and the House of Lords.  It will also have to over write the two Acts of Parliament that are already in existence.

This has got to this position because people who have been clamped have lobbied their MP’s and the media has used it as it is of “interest”.  You need to use the same tactics to have your voice heard, if you believe that banning clamping will affect you, the way you live or run your own business then you should lobby your MP.

As a company we are confident that the government will act on unlawful clamping companies but will allow those who are self regulated to continue their legitimate business.

We will keep you up to date with any change in the legislation but you are more than welcome to check our press release page for news.

June 2010

Shoal is Delight to be appointed to assist Home Housing Group with parking control on several of its residential sites across the south of England, Shoal has been appointed to replace the existing company due to failings in the service it was supplying. MD Mike Eames, commented that “shoal is continually replacing other companies within the industry who promise the world but fail to deliver, Shoal always strives to perform what it promises”, “we work very closely with many Housing Associations now, in sometime difficult and volatile situations, to work for the good of the all the residents on a site not just the few who abuse the parking”.

June 2010

Shoal has recently been asked to assist Savills to crack down on commuters parking at one of its commercial developments in the south, Savills asked Shoal to adopt a softly softly approach issuing warnings first. Shoal MD Mike Eames Commented “Commercial Agents are under growing pressure to ensure their tenants have the parking they need and are entitled to, yet to be sympathetic towards the local community, Shoal is delighted to work with Savills on this project along with others across the south of England”

30 September 2009

Shoal has worked with First Wessex Group to develop, what we believe to be the first independent appeal process for a private parking enforcement company. A working group of First Wessex neighbourhood Mangers, a member of the residents Working Committee and a director from Shoal Enforcement, arrange to meet once a month to discuss and arbitrate on any appeals received.

Shoal Director Mike Eames Said “This is another way we are trying to change the industry and make it more transparent, here at Shoal, we have always said we want to lead the industry and try and make changes”.

Shoal is working with other clients to introduce similar schemes on sites it controls.

16 July 2009

Shoal Enforcement has recently assisted First Wessex Group in the development of a new untaxed vehicle management procedure.

Shoal has been actively working with senior housing managers over the last few months to draw up guidelines for Portsmouth Housing Association. With the growing problem of untaxed vehicles, trailers and caravans on its housing sites, residents were frequently asking for PHA to take prompt action to release valuable parking spaces.

Shoal will remove all vehicles back to its compound and then request details from the DVLA before disposing of the vehicle through an Environment Agency approved recycling centre.

June 2009

Shoal has recently been selected to remove, store and dispose of all untaxed and abandoned vehicles for Drum Housing - Part of the Radian Group, Shoal already assist Drum with parking control on some of their housing sites.

Knowle Village 22nd May 2009

Shoal Enforcement was approached by Peverel OM the managing agents for Knowle Village in connection with parking problems associated with access roads at Knowle Village after Peverel OM received a number of complaints and concerns over access for emergency vehicles.

After several months of discussions and meetings and confirmation which roads are still the responsibility of Peverel, Shoal have been appointed to enforce many of Knowles road ways to allow the smooth running of the site.

Shoal has erected NO PARKING ON ROADWAY Signs on many un-adopted roads under the instruction of Peverel OM and is under contract to clamp and remove vehicles that do not comply with the terms and conditions of the new parking control.

All residents were informed by letter from Peverel stating that the scheme was starting on Tuesday 18^th May 2009 describing how the scheme will operate, and in fact enforcement action did not commence until Friday 22th May.

Residents are reminded the must use their own bays and refrain from parking on roadways or other residents bays. The scheme is likely to continue for the near future and will be expanded as the need arises.

Shoal Enforcement

Press Release THE Portsmouth NEWS 19 May 2009

In conclusions of the recent press complaints commission, Shoal Enforcement wish to clarify maters in the articles published in The Portsmouth News.

Tickets were issued to vehicles causing obstruction on the service road at the rear of a parade of shops in Gosport. We held an investigation and determined that this was not private land, all tickets were immediately cancelled and payments refunded before the article was even printed in The News, we were disappointed that this was not included in the article.

In the matter of “Shop Boss Fights to get Tow-Away car back” we were disappointed The news failed to point out that our staff had been subjected to unacceptable threats of violence, and damage to company property prior and after the removal of Mr Ozdens vehicle, one member of female office staff even received Death threats and threats to her family, which lead to a police investigation, Mr Oszdens vehicle and all his property was returned to him some three months later after a payment was made.

In the matter of Clare Lewry our officer was performing his duty as required by Portsmouth Housing association at no point did we make any contact with any person at Ms Lewary’s flat and Ms Lewary was well aware of our clients instructions for this site and in fact regularly had informative chats with our enforcement staff about offending vehicles at her address.

In the recent article “mum’s car clamped as her epileptic son has fit” The News failed to inform us that Mrs Grimes was claiming she was clamped whilst displaying a Disabled Blue Badge and in fact once the article was published we immediately questioned The News and sent Evidence direct to the reporter to the contrary. Our photographs do not show any blue badge

We feel the News has failed on every single reported incident to report a balanced account and have edited every response from us.

Shoal Enforcement is one of the largest Parking Enforcement companies along the south coast, we operate on over 300 sites issuing over 10,000 permits every year and employ more than 10 enforcement staff.

We are working with several large clients to try and develop a more independent appeal process, we do not refund release fees where the clamp was correctly applied but if there are mitigating circumstances we do regularly offer to donate an amount equal to the clamp fee to a charity of their choice.

We welcome direction from the government in relation to signs, release fees and generally improving the parking industry. We ask drivers not to park on our client’s property, unless they have a permit. Our signs are clear and our operatives follow a strict code of practice that will ensure that drivers who are entitled to park, can do just that – park in their own space.

Mike Eames

For and on behalf of

Shoal Enforcement Ltd

Press Release 3rd February 2009 The News

We operate under our own code of practice and that of the BPA. We follow set procedures for removing vehicles from site, in this instance, not only were we instructed to remove the vehicle by the land owner, due to previous clamps cut off, there was also threats to several members of our staff, including female office staff. We do not tolerate any verbal or physical abuse to our staff, we are unable comment any further on this matter due to ongoing police investigations.

When vehicles are removed, it is always as a last resort, we will always try to resolve the issues before removal, however we are employed by our clients to undertake a service, if we are given instructions we will carry them out within the guidelines of our own code of practice and the law.

This vehicle was removed and returned to our compound, negotiations continued but broke down and the vehicle is still parked in our compound. The owner may still request the return of their vehicle and this will be returned when all outstanding amounts are paid.

We will undertake a set laid down procedure to contact the registered owner and if there is none listed, which is a growing problem we have no other recourse but to dispose of the vehicle.

All of our front line staff are fully licensed by the security Industry Authority, and work under great pressure, often in very hostile situations however we will always keep a professional approach.

On the matter of the of Mrs Harrission who “did not receive any ticket” we issue Civil Penalty Notices on many sites as a softer approach than clamping, this may take the form of officers physically placing notices on vehicles, or by other means including ANPR system, In Mrs Harrisions case, she was parked in a car park which is at the end of a dead end road, next to a large supermarket.

We were contract by Southern Focus Trust to assist them in trying to keep their car park clear for parents, resident and carers of the adjacent Flats. This is an ongoing problem with this car park, it is abused by people “just nipping in to the supermarket” this naturally causes a wider problem for people needing to use this car park legitimately.

On the matter of the date being different on Mrs Harrission letters, we have identified a problem with our software, which has now been rectified, we apologise for this error and have written to Mrs Harrision and adjusted the charge as a gesture of good will.