A former estate agent suffered a double blow when his treasured classic car was stolen, abandoned ... and clamped.

David Sheppard had spent six months restoring his 1969 Vanden Plas Princess 1300 to its original gleaming condition when it was stolen from outside his house in Stapley Road, Hove.

He was asleep in bed when the Sherwood green car, nicknamed Eric, was taken by thieves in the early hours of Christmas morning.

He said: "My partner and I were setting off to see some friends and we found the car was gone and there was just a pile of glass left from the broken window, "A neighbour said he had heard the glass being smashed and seen the car being driven away at about 12.45am. We reported it to the police but refused to let it spoil our day."

Four days later, another neighbour happened to spot Eric abandoned in a private car park on an industrial estate in the centre of Brighton.

Retired Mr Sheppard, 62, said: "He asked me if I still had my Vanden Plas and I told him it had been pinched. He told me he had seen it in a car park in New England Road.

"It had been abandoned in a fairly prominent position in the car park, which was unfortunately patrolled by one of these rapacious clamping companies.

"There was not much damage, just a smashed quarter light, and it was left unlocked.

Mr Sheppard's joy at getting Eric back turned to anger when he saw the car had been clamped.

He said: "It must have been very obvious it had been stolen, but this company saw it, clamped it and stuck a sign on it demanding £90 for its release."

"The clamping company, Nationwide Security Parking Management, had not checked with the police stolen list in spite of the fact it had obviously been stolen.

"They caused unnecessary stress and expense, waste of police time and, in my opinion, did not honour an obligation to report a suspected crime."

A spokesman for Nationwide Security Parking Management declined to comment.