Disabled motorist Peter Moore went into a Benefit Agency office for a crisis loan and ended up having to spend the cash on getting a clamp removed from his car.

Mr Moore parked his Nissan Micra Motability car with its blue disabled badge on display in a space on a plot of land near the Benefit Agency office in Station Road, Portslade.

He admits he saw notices warning motorists of clampers but says he has used the site for years as there is no dedicated disabled bay.

Mr Moore, 28, of Portland Road, Hove, who uses a wheelchair to get about, went to the office to ask for a crisis loan to help him buy a piece of equipment connected with his disability.

Once the loan was agreed he left to discover a clamp on his vehicle with a notice telling him it would cost him £95 to have the car freed.

He said: "I went back to the agency and asked if it was its car park and it wasn't.

"I asked at the rail station and it wasn't owned by them either."

When he could not trace the car park owner, he went to a phone box and called Nationwide Security Parking Management Ltd, which had clamped the car.

He said: "I don't expect any special treatment because of my disability but their attitude made me angry."

Mr Moore eventually wheeled himself home in his wheelchair.

He told his mother and they went back to the car park where a clamper was there to take the £95.

No one from Nationwide Security Parking, which is based in Southampton. was available to comment yesterday.