£1.2m car,clamped.

[#1]

Why bother - we ask?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10810772

[#2]

"Our priority is our residents. To keep space available for them, we must deter visitors from taking up residents' bays and our experience is that clamping is simply the most effective deterrent."
So stopping the rich kids cars from moving is freeing up the spaces how exactly?

From consumer watch:
Your car may get clamped if you are seen as having persistently broken parking rules. This happens if you have three unpaid Penalty Charge Notices issued by the council.
Councils and the police can clamp cars on roads if you keep breaking parking rules. Or they can tow your car away if it’s causing an obstruction, if it’s abandoned or part of an unauthorised travel encampment.
So as it says they paid 1 ticket, I assume that means only 1 ticket was outstanding, so wouldn't that make the cars wrongly clamped?
And if they are causing an obstruction, surely they would have just been towed?

[#3]

So, How many "residents" can legally park their cars outside Horrods ?

[#4]

Not very many at all I would have thought.
And living near Harrods, how many would need on street parking?

[#5]

Seems the council did the right thing.  You can imagine all the moaning minnies if the cars were allowed to park without being ticketed

[#6]

News from 2010!
Clamping is not allowed anymore, and clamping a car is not going to free up a space for the residents.

[#7]

Clamping is only outlawed for private companies. Public bodies (DVLA, police, local councils) CAN still use wheel clamps. Any private company that uses them (except on their own vehicles for security) is committing an offence.
Seems a bit OTT though if you ask me. 1 ticket issued the same day so they clamped them. Thats not justified. Councils are only meant to use the clamps for persistent evaders (people who don't pay their tickets) in order to force the owner to come forward with their details.