Lewes: Fury at car boot clamping

10:57am Monday 16th June 2008

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There was outrage at a car boot sale when clampers swooped on Sunday morning bargain hunters.

Tyres on the clamping company's van were slashed as tempers flared and police were called.

An MP tried to act as peacemaker as "mob rule" threatened to spiral out of control.

But Guardian Parking Management, which said it clamped ten cars, refused to back down and drivers, some of them pensioners, were forced to pay £120 to get their cars back.

They were targeted after parking at Eastgate Wharf, off Eastgate Street, Lewes, which became a clamping zone last Monday.

Lewes MP Norman Baker, who was browsing nearby stalls, said the row highlighted the need for greater scrutiny of the way clampers operated and the fines they charged.

He said: "People went to a boot sale looking for a bargain and came away with £120 fines. This is a huge amount of money. There are some who simply can't afford to pay.

"There is an issue about parking here and access for emergency vehicles and lorries unloading, but dealing with it through clamping being suddenly introduced is not the right way to go about it. There is a need to have a greater say over private parking companies - both the amount they charge and the way some of them operate."

Victims said they had parked on the land for years without problems and hadn't noticed warning signs put up last week.

Peter Welch, 72, of the Landport estate, Lewes, said: "I just popped into the car boot sale for ten minutes.

As I was putting the stuff I'd bought in the car the man was clamping it.

"I asked him whether he was allowed to do that while I was there and he said nobody had been with the car when he arrived.

"We're on a pension and we can't afford it. We'll have to go without this week."

Lesley Afzali, 69, from Tarring Neville, said: "I just don't have that money because I'm a pensioner.

"They shouldn't be allowed to charge more than a week's pension."

Some motorists complained they had not seen the signs, which were positioned above head height.

Linda Palmer, 59, from Newhaven, had a blue badge on her dashboard as her husband is disabled.

She said: "It's been chaos here. We've stopped so many other people from getting clamped this morning because everyone's been used to parking here for years. There are a lot of very very angry people."

Mrs Palmer said up to 20 cars may have been clamped but Mark Lynch, director of Guardian, said only ten were immobilised and two owners were not charged.

He said: "One was released free because they had a blue badge which they had failed to display, and the other took the clamp off themselves. We were requested to carry out the clamping by the property management agent we work for.

"While our immobilisers were on site people still kept coming in and parking despite our warning boards, vehicles and guys in uniform.

The police came out and were confident everything was OK. But then mob rule took over and people decided to slash our tyres."

Police said they had told Mr Baker that what the clamping company had done was perfectly lawful.