Yellow wheel clamp on car parked illegally in a London street. 130605_Saab Clamp
A wheel clamp, also known as wheel boot or Denver boot, is a device that is designed to prevent vehicles from being moved. In its most common form, it consists of a clamp that surrounds a vehicle wheel, designed to prevent removal of both itself and the wheel. In the United States, these devices became known as a "Denver boot" after the city of Denver, Colorado was the first in the country to employ them, mostly to force the payment of outstanding parking tickets. The wheel clamp, originally known as the auto immobiliser, was invented in 1944 and patented in 1958 by Frank Marugg. Marugg was a pattern maker, a violinist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, and a good friend to many Denver politicians and police department officials. The police department needed a solution to a growing parking enforcement problem. The city used to tow all ticketed cars to the pound, where they were often vandalised. Those who were ticketed sued the city for the damage and the police had to itemise everything in the cars. Dan Stills, a policeman, thought an immobiliser would avoid the expensive towing problem and approached Marugg with an idea on how to immobilise a vehicle. The Denver police first used the wheel boot on 5 January 1955 and collected over US$18,000 (US$156,164 in 2013 dollars in its first month of use. Although the wheel boot was first cast in steel, Marugg soon switched to a lighter aluminum-based alloy. Marugg later sold the device to parking lot owners, hotels and ski resorts, as well as a Jumbo version for farm equipment and larger vehicles. the 'London Wheel Clamp'. The designer, Trevor Whitehouse and patent owner of device number GB2251416A filed the patent in 1991. He originally called the device the 'Preston' based on his home town in Lancashire. Primarily used on private land, its notoriety grew once it was introduced to public roads under the Road Traffic Regulations Act of 1991. (Commonly known as the de-criminalising of the yellow lines act.)
Size: 5759px × 3840px
Location: Central London England UK
Photo credit: © Daniel Valla FRPS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: boot, car, clamp, clamped, denver, driving, fine, illegal, illegally, immobilise, immobiliser, meter, offense, park, parking, penalty, residential, street, ticket, vehicle, warden, wheel, yellow
