Court Of Appeal Rules Tire clamping Law As Invalid

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Kota Bharu Municipal Council's (MPKB) tire clamping law is illegal as it goes against the Road Transport Act 1987.

This decision means that the municipal council may only issue summonses and may not impound any automobiles parked inside a parking box.

The clamping prohibition nevertheless does not apply to vehicles parked outside the parking box, or parked unlawfully and endangering others.

This unanimous verdict was decided by Court of Appeal Judges Datuk Hashim Hamzah, Datuk Abdul Karim Jalil and Datuk Supang Lian at a hearing on December, 8th.

Aforementioned matter was brought to light when the appellant, Nursyafawati Kasim, 33, filed a civil lawsuit against MPKB in 2019.

The law firm's accounting clerk filed the complaint after finding MPKB police had clamped her car for failure to top up her parking payments.

The incident happened on July 25, 2019 and she filed a suit against the council after that.

Nursyafawati had contended that her car was clamped owing to unpaid parking fees and the council finally unclamped the vehicle after she was forced to pay RM110 - RM100 to open the clamp and RM10 compound.

Additionally, MPKB asked that she pay RM 760 in parking-related arrears.

She filed the complaint stating MPKB and its personnel had abused their position by acting illegally when they clamped her car.

However, the Kota Bharu High Court subsequently found that it was lawful for MPKB to clamp cars parked inside the parking box.

After Nursyafawati filed an appeal, the Kota Bharu court's ruling was today overturned by a three-judge bench.

The judges also ordered MPKB to pay Nursyafawati RM5,000 in costs.