Our car was wrongly clamped by tax enforcer ‘clowns’ for HOURS – we’re not impressed with their £100 ‘goodwill’ payment
A FAMILY has called car tax enforcers "clowns" after their vehicle was wrongly clamped.
Jonathan Imm said his wife's Renault Laguna was parked outside their home in Cheltenham when it was clamped on January 28 at around 7pm.
They were confused at the action as the car was taxed and there was no reason for it to be clamped.
The couple - who live with Fred Hunt, 91, Mr Imm's father-in-law - said the clamping prevented them all from going on a long-awaited trip to Wellesbourne Market in Warwickshire.
A company called NSL were carrying out the enforcement for the DVLA and Mr Imm said it was difficult to contact them.
The clamp was not removed until 9.20am the following day.
Mr Imm said he feels embarrassed his neighbours would have seen the clamp and assumed that the car tax hadn't been paid.
He added that the clamping was "ridiculous".
NSL have admitted that they shouldn't have clamped the car.
A spokesperson for the company said: "NSL takes enforcement action against untaxed vehicles and makes every effort to ensure that this process is carried out with the greatest care and attention.";
"However, in this particular case, our team clamped a vehicle incorrectly."
"We subsequently removed the clamp within 65 minutes of receiving a call from the owner when it was established that the vehicle had been incorrectly clamped."
In an email to the family, NSL have said that "errors can sometimes occur" but they are "not treated lightly."
The authority apologised for the mistake and wrote: “To cover the costs and inconvenience caused by this error, we would like to offer a gesture of goodwill payment of £100.”
However, Mr Imm said he was unimpressed with the offer.
He said: "I’m still not very happy about this though, it’s the principle of it all, but it’s better than nothing.”
He added: "These clowns should have checked it was the right car and correct registration number, they just don’t care nowadays."