Grandmother left in tears by clampers (From Times Series)

Grandmother left in tears by clampers

10:00am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News By Hannah Raven

A Finchley grandmother is backing a parliamentary bill to outlaw wheel clamping, after she was ordered to pay almost £400 to have her car released.

Rozi Orson, 59, found her car had been clamped on a piece of land in Regents Park Road, Finchley, in January.

Two men, who said they worked for A1 Parking Solutions, threatened to tow Mrs Orson’s car away if she did not pay a £375 release fee in cash.

Mrs Orson is diabetic and had stopped to get some food from a nearby café in a hurry after her blood sugar dropped.

She said: “I was shaking and scared. I couldn’t eat at that point.

“I didn’t have that sort of money on me and wasn’t near a cash point. They would not take my card. I felt so trapped.”

A café employee who came to help her said: “She came in asking for help. She was very distressed and upset. She was crying.”

The worker managed to bring the charge down to £180. He paid the fee for Mrs Orson, who is a family friend. He said: “I felt so sorry for her that day. The clampers don’t seem to operate a proper system.”

Mrs Orson said she did not sign any paperwork and the men took the money, but did not give her a receipt. When Mrs Orson returned the next day the A1 Parking Solutions sign had been removed from the wall. A few days later a new sign had been put up.

The land is owned by UK Power Networks which says it does not employ any clamping company to work there. A UK Power Network said in a statement: “UK Power Networks owns the land in front of the electricity substation in Regents Park Road.

“We do not employ wheel clampers so any wheel clamping taking place is without our consent. We have made contact with the company and requested they refrain from clamping vehicles on our land. We have removed their signage, and installed temporary fencing around our boundary to prevent anyone from accessing the land.

“This will later be replaced with a more permanent solution and site improvements.”

A1 Parking Solutions said staff were all individually licensed to clamp vehicles. The company confirmed it issued a ticket on the land around 12.50pm on January 11 and said a receipt was issued.

The Protection of Freedoms Bill, which is currently being passed through Parliament, seeks to outlaw wheel-clamping on private land and is in the report stage in the House of Lords.

Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said: “Companies should comply with the code, but far too many don’t and the current regulation is lax. I will be supporting the changes to the law.”

Barnet police said anyone with concerns about clamping should contact them before paying a release fee.