Angry Owner 'Saw' Car Clamped

When a Gloucestershire builder came home to find a 'work-in-progress' car repair project clamped by what he branded over officious 'jobsworths' he took matters into his own hands.

Ian Taylor, from Tredworth, took drastic action and set about sawing his car in half with an angle-grinder in protest at it being clamped outside his home.

He said the untaxed Ford Fiesta was parked on his driveway with only part of a rear wheel poking out on to the pavement.

The 40-year-old builder said the vehicle was going to be scrapped anyway, but he wanted to make a point - but managed to set the car on fire at the same time.

Mr Taylor bought the car for his stepson with the intention of restoring it, but it was beyond economical repair: "I told my stepson not to bother, so we parked it up, we were going to get rid of it. I came home from work the other day and it'd been clamped," he said.

Mr Taylor said he then made several efforts to explain that the car had a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) certificate verifying it had not been driven on the road and that it had been parked on his drive.

However, a spokesman for NCP Services said half of the car was parked on the road and should therefore have been taxed.

"We tried to talk to NCP. I said, 'you're not taking it'. I got my cutter and cut it in half," said the angry builder.

"I'm happy I got one over on them. They're 'jobsworths', for the sake of an inch and a half on the path."

However, James Pritchard, Communications Manager for NCP Services, said clamping staff had photographs to prove that half the car was on the public pavement.

"We were astonished at the reaction this gentleman had to the fact we put a clamp on his car.

"It was a remarkable incident which highlighted some of the problems my colleagues face while they're doing what is a very important job in ensuring that motorists tax their vehicle," he said.

"And in cutting his car in two, he managed to put both himself at risk and also a number of bystanders - along with ourselves, the police had to be called and the fire brigade, as he set fire to the car while cutting it in two.

"Fortunately, the only damage was done to his car and as far as our people are concerned we stand by what they did."

(BMcC)