Illegal wheel clamps cost firm pounds 3,640

A COMPANY which illegally clamped drivers on land it did not have permission to use was yesterday fined pounds 3,640.

The clamper, Simon Timpson, called police when he found a driver, John Chapman, trying to free the clamp from his car with an angle grinder. But when officers investigated the company - Roadrunner Security - they found it had broken the law.

Balbir Seyan, for the prosecution, told magistrates at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, that a sign displayed on the site indicated that Roadrunner had the owner's permission to clamp vehicles and motorists were ordered to pay cash penalties during March this year.

But police discovered that the owner of the Castle Street site in High Wycombe had not given permission to operate there. Despite police warnings that they should curtail clamping while investigations were under way, Roadrunner continued, Mr Seyan said.

The firm's partners, Paul Goodison and Paul Stedman, both 24, were also ordered to return pounds 1,400 to motorists that they had illegally clamped, and to pay pounds 150 costs.