Motoring groups yesterday welcomed Government plans to drastically cut down on wheelclamping by councils.

The new guidelines tell councils in England that Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is "of the view that clamping should only be used in limited circumstances".

Also, councils are being told that charges should be set no higher than required to meet the reasonable costs of clamping and "should not generate a surplus".

Councils are being encouraged to concentrate on clamping persistent offenders and not clamp or remove cars at night.

Clamping or removing should only take place where there are clear traffic management benefits.

The guidelines also say that vehicles issued with a penalty charge notice should not be removed or clamped for 30 minutes except for ''persistent evader'' vehicles where the limit is reduced to 15 minutes.

Vehicles clamped should be released within one hour of the offender paying the fine.

Edmund King, the executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "Motorists will welcome restrictions on wheel-clamping as the punishment rarely fits the crime.

"Clamping a car for overstaying on a meter makes no sense, as the parking place is then blocked for a longer period.

"Clamping, both on-street and off-street, should only be used to target persistent offenders as a last resort. Clamping is a crude activity, which should have been outlawed at the time of Dick Turpin.

"Overzealous enforcement, confusing signs and lines, and the belief that councils are using parking fines to raise revenue rather than keep the traffic moving are all issues that motorists raise with us. We hope that this guidance will lead to a fairer regime."

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "Persistent evaders are often not registered, or not correctly registered, on the DVLA database and therefore think that they can get away with not paying any penalty charges.

"We are bringing in quicker clamping and removal times for persistent evaders.

"However, for the motorists who do not persistently evade parking charges, we are strongly discouraging wheel-clamping to be more motorist-friendly."

David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Association's transport and regeneration board, said: "Many councils across the country have already adopted a persistent-offender-only approach and cannot use parking as a revenue raising exercise.

"Most don't have targets or financial incentives for the number of tickets issued. But councils must be allowed to estimate how much money will come from parking fines so that they can undertake good financial planning."