Clamp fee to steep

He left his moped, a small 50cc model, up against the wall of the house in Sudley Terrace, Bognor High Street. When he came out of the house about 15 minutes later,

he found his moped had been clamped. He hadn’t seen the ‘No Parking’ notice nearby, which had apparently only been put up a week or two earlier.

He rang the number on the notice left on his bike and was told he would have to pay £125 to have it unclamped, otherwise it would be taken away and he’d have to pay £250 to retrieve it – or else it would be sold. He hadn’t got anything like that amount of money, he hadn’t got a credit or debit card, he knew his father couldn’t find that amount immediately, so he rang me and I was able to pay the sum with my credit card, (though I noticed on my bank statement I’d been charged £130). His moped was unclamped and he was able to ride home.

It seems to me £125 is an extremely disproportionate amount to pay for a fairly minor offence. The moped was in no way causing an obstruction to vehicles or pedestrians. I am very surprised the district council allows Capital 2 Coast to charge such large sums to unclamp a moped.

Richard Thomas

Brent Court,

Emsworth