(Redirected from
Denver boot)
A wheel clamp is a device that is designed to stop vehicles from moving. Its commonest form is a clamp which surrounds a vehicle wheel and designed to prevent removal of itself and the wheel. It is often used for security purposes, such as a trailer or caravan and to crack down on unauthorised or illegal parking, where a high "release fee" may be charged. In the United States, such devices are known as "Denver boots", after the city of Denver, Colorado was the first in the country to employ them - mostly to force the payment of outstanding parking tickets.
Wheel-clamping is notoriously unpopular in a similar way that traffic wardens are. However, whereas a traffic warden or police officer only has jurisdiction over public roads, wheel clampers can prey on vehicles parked on private property.
One man became so annoyed at having his car clamped, that he removed the clamp with an angle grinder. He is now a self-styled superhero called Angle-Grinder Man, offering to remove clamps for free with his angle grinder.
In Scotland, wheel-clamping on private land is illegal. It was banned by the case of Black v Carmichael 1992 SCCR 709, when wheel-clamping was found to constitute extortion and theft.
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