AN Ampfield publican is furious after his car was clamped while he and his wife dined at a Romsey restaurant.

John and Gaye Armstrong, who run the White Horse pub in the village, were given a permit to park at the rear of Paolo Donatello's Italian restaurant at Dukes Mill, but a clamper from Security International struck while the couple were eating their meal. The clamper demanded £120 to remove the immobilising device.

John, who has demanded the £120 back, says his car was in a dedicated customer parking area when it was clamped.

He said the restaurant owner, Paolo Bagnulo had warned him that clampers were on the prowl in the area before he parked up.

"He offered me a Security International permit, which had to be displayed in my car. He then accompanied me back to my car and showed me which bay to park in directly behind the restaurant.

"He was most helpful in even moving a small bicycle that was hindering parking. Later that evening, I was informed by Paolo that I had been clamped."

John said that when he quizzed on why he'd been targeted, the clamping operative refused to give him a reason.

"I paid the fee and my car was released. Not happy with clamping me, the operative then came back into the restaurant demanding that I moved my vehicle, so adding insult to injury. Apparently, I was blocking someone in.

"I returned to my car, where we found that no-one was blocked in," added John, who went back to the restaurant the following morning to speak to Mr Bagnulo about the clamping incident.

John said: "He informed me that he was handed permits to give his customers who were being clamped whilst they ate, among them a poor lady Paolo was trying to comfort at the time. She was crying her eyes out, as she had to part with half of her housekeeping money for that week as she had not seen the signs."

Despite phone calls to the Dukes Mill shopping precinct owner, Michael Royde, who brought in the clampers to stop illegal parking at the site, John has not managed to sort the matter out to his satisfaction. He's warned Mr Royde that he will be putting the matter in his solicitor's hands if he doesn't get his money back by the end of this week.

A spokesperson for Mr Royde said: "Michael is trying to get Mr Armstrong his money back. We have spoken to the clamping company and they are looking into it.

"I think some people have been parking in the wrong bays, even though they have permits. We have got pictures Mr Armstrong took of his car when it was clamped."

Numerous people have fallen victim to the clampers, including owner of Avalon Crystals, Gary Onslow. He also had a permit.

Security International denies people clamped have complained about the operatives' actions. An aggressive call-handler said: "We haven't had any complaints and we wouldn't comment on individuals.

"We don't have a press office and it's no good putting you through to customer services, because they won't speak to you. Our job is to immobilise vehicles, take photographs and clamp if a valid permit is not on display."

When told several people had permits and were parked in designated areas when clamped and had photos as evidence, the call-handler said: "The tickets must have fallen down in the cars. We wouldn't clamp them otherwise. They could have taken the photographs after putting permits in their cars."