The Government is finally to take action on the use of CCTV to extract cash from hard pressed motorists.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has had enough of cameras being used to target drivers and enforce parking rules.

The secretary of state is fed up with drivers being filmed without their knowledge and then receiving a parking fine through the post days later – aren’t we all?

Mr Pickles’ new proposals against what he himself described as “over-zealous parking enforcement and unreasonable stealth fines” only apply to local councils.

That may be well and good, but what about private firms that do similar? This newspaper has regularly reported on the plight of motorists who have fallen victim to private parking firms in Hampshire.

Many of them were filmed in car parks – either without their knowledge or not spotting adequate warning signs – before being tracked down and fined with the use of information legitimately obtained from the Government’s own DVLA.

Today Hampshire MPs and the AA are calling on Mr Pickles to go further and crack down on private companies having access our driving records to make money.

If using CCTV to enforce parking is unsavoury enough to ban councils from doing it then the same must also apply to private companies.

Last year the Government outlawed the use of wheel clamping to extract cash from motorists, after a Daily Echo campaign.

Surely now, in the interest of fairness, the time has come to act again.