A car clamping company has taken a public-spirited Andover restaurant owner to court because he was helping people to not get clamped.

Chillies, on Winchester Street, could have been set to pay over £500 in damages.

The argument started in the car park just behind the restaurant. In March Chillies received a letter from the Southampton-based Whites Car Park Solutions. It said:

"If you carry on to warn people away from the car park causing me loss of earning I will have to issue a county court summons in the region of £150 for each day you do this."

Zak Hussein is the manager of Chillies. Sometimes his customers use the spaces in the car park when they collect a takeaway. It is a privately-owned car park with signs warning that you could get clamped if you stop.

Mr Hussein has told some customers to park elsewhere and says he was trying to protect his business: "They come here just for £20 worth of takeaway and along with this they get a £150 ticket. What I'm doing is warning my customers not to park there. If you park there you'll get clamped. I'm doing it for the sake of my business."

The clampers did take Chilies to court but the District Judge struck the case out in Southampton. The order said:

"The claim is struck out as disclosing no reasonable grounds for bring proceedings. It is not tortious to warn people of vehicle clamping operating in a car park."

This kind of clamping is legal and Whites Car Park Solutions are fully accredited and registered.

We called Jason White from the company and offered him an interview which he declined. He also denied any knowledge of the court case.

The company that owns the car park outside Chillies has also refused to answer our questions on why they use a clamping firm.

The land belongs to Langdown Commercial who are based on Charlton Road in Andover. Andover Sound has been calling them this week but they've so far turned down our offer of an interview.

We have been contacted by dozens of listeners in the last few days who have told us they have been charged around £150 after being clamped in the town.

There are calls for a law change on car clamping as anger has grown over the treatment of Chillies.

Reverend Andrew Ashdown was clamped there recently and had to immediately pay £150 to get his car back.

He said it left him overdrawn for the rest of the month: "Yes I was parked in the wrong place. I hadn't actually noticed the signs but there were signs there - I accept that. I think it's fairly obscene the extortionate amount that was charged for what is a small offence. I completely accept that they have a right to make a penalty and that's fine but it ought to be within reasonable levels.

"I would hope that the law could change to make it impossible for any individuals to have the freedom to charge such astronomical amounts."

At the moment there are no laws against private clamping but the Leader of Test Valley Borough Council says they'll consider a change if they were handed the powers.

In a statement, they've said: "The enforcement of parking on private land is a matter of agreement between the owner of the land and the clamping company. There is no regulation of the sector at the moment but there are currently moves to regulate the industry."

But Councillor Ian Carr says it could be possible: "The whole structure of local government is changing. Freedoms are being given to the Borough Council that we've never had before. Whether that one rolls down we'll have to wait and see.

"At the moment we don't regulate that or have any input in it. It's something I can look out for and put on the list of things we might want to do if the freedoms come up."

Meanwhile North West Hampshire's MP has told the House of Commons about an Andover restaurant's fight with a clamping firm.

Sir George Young brought the issue up in Westminster on Thursday telling colleagues that they needed to have ‘another look' at the law.

Andover Sound spoke to the Leader of the House of Commons on Friday morning: "It became clear that a lot of MPs have got the same problems and I think that we are going to have to have another look at this and see whether the legislation is as robust as it ought to be.

"There are just too many stories. I've been looking at the Andover Sound website and I think this is something that, as a government, we're going to have to have another look at."

Sir George also told us that he's written to the Secretary of State for Transport this week asking about whether a law change is possible. He says there are a number of options: "You could impose maximum penalties for parking that might be related to what, for example, you would pay if you parked on a double yellow line in Andover.

"Before we embarked on legislation we would want to have consultation with people to make sure we got it right. But my view at the moment is that the regime is not fair and it's something which I think any government will want to look at to make sure we got a better balance between what the wheel clampers can do and what the motorists can do."

The issue has been our Talking Point this week - you can read what people have had to say and leave your own thoughts on the item below.

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