Helsinki looking to try wheel clamps to reduce number of parking offences
The City of Helsinki is seeking the authority to start using wheel-clamping as a disciplinary measure against parking offenders. The use of wheel clamps and the subsequent high payment would act as a deterrent and prevent illegal parking.
According to the City of Helsinki Public Works Department, the clamping of cars should be made possible in all parking-offence cases, not just the most outrageous ones.
In practice, a traffic warden would clamp the wheel of a wrongly parked car, the driver of which would then have to contact the parking authorities in order to have the clamp removed. This might not even happen the same day, as a parking fine and the clamping charges would have to be paid in full before the clamp is removed.
The Public Works Department insists that a fine alone is an insufficient deterrent against some drivers who systematically render themselves guilty of parking where they should not. This group includes people out of the reach of debt recovery procedures because of lack of funds, and those whose place of residence is unclear. Furthermore, a parking fine cannot be collected from vehicles registered abroad.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications feels that allowing clamping would require amendments to certain provisions of the law. Clamping is a serious matter, one that deals with freedom of movement and appropriation of property.
The City of Helsinki first suggested the introduction of clamping devices at the turn of the 1990s. At that time the Ministry of Justice dismissed the idea provisions in the Finnish constitution on the protection of personal property.
Helsingin Sanomat
