Barnet Council has pledged to discuss improving the checks carried out by its contractors after a man’s car was wrongly clamped.

Stephen Houston, of Goldsmith Road, Friern Barnet, bought a second-hand Nissan Micra for his son Yahel as a graduation present on July 30.

He insured the car the following day and went to the Post Office in Woodhouse Road to register the vehicle and pay road tax on August 1.

Mr Houston then collected the car and parked it on Goldsmith Road.

But the next day he returned home in the afternoon to find the car had been clamped by Essex-based contractor Redcorn, which carries out enforcement work on behalf of the council.

A note on the windscreen informed him he would have to pay £100 to have the car released if he contacted Redcorn on the same day – rising to £162 if he contacted them the following day.

The reason given by the firm was that the car had not been taxed.

Mr Houston immediately tried calling the company, but he could not get through to anyone at Redcorn until the following morning.

He said: “It was a nightmare trying to get through to the company. It took over an hour to get through to them the next day.

“I spoke to someone, they finally agreed it was taxed and they were going to release it.

“My wife had to take the morning off to stop me from shooting over there.

“I have done everything by the book then, with no explanation, had the vehicle clamped and had all the problems trying to get through to them.

“There was no email address on the website.”

Mr Houston said the police told him that when road tax was paid there could be a delay of between 24 hours and five days for it to show up on the government’s systems, which are used by contractors to check a car’s tax status.

But a DVLA [Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency] spokesperson confirmed it has a facility that allows contractors such as Redcorn to view road tax records in real time – meaning there should be no delay.

Mr Houston said: “If the car is taxed and insured, why are Barnet Council sending people round?”

He added that he had spoken to other people who had had similar experiences shortly after buying a car.

A council spokesperson said: “We undertake appropriate checks prior to enforcing against suspected untaxed vehicles but will discuss with Redcorn the potential for enhancements to these processes.”

Redcorn Limited was approached for comment, but repeated telephone calls went unanswered.