Clampers anger disabled veteran

Roy Jones said he displayed his disabled badge in the car windscreen

A disabled Army veteran says he wants a wheel-clamping licence revoked after he was told to walk home when he could not pay a firm's £149.50 charge.

Roy Jones, 68, from Aldington, Kent, said his vehicle was clamped in a car park in Folkestone, even though his disabled badge was on the windscreen.

Dover-based Able Securities told him the car was not clamped in error as he did not have a permit for the site.

The firm told BBC South East Today it had not done anything wrong.

Mr Jones, whose legs were injured in an Army training exercise in Germany in the 1960s, walks with crutches.

He parked in a car park which he believed belonged to a hotel where he was visiting a friend in January.

They shouldn't be let loose to do this - they are nothing but legalised thugs Roy Jones

When he returned, the car had been clamped.

Mr Jones said he was given half an hour to pay and told the car would be towed away after three days, with the bill rising by £149.50 each day.

His son paid the fine by telephone using his credit card.

"I thought (the clamper's) attitude was disgusting especially when he told me to walk home," he said.

"I want to recover my money for my son," he said.

"They shouldn't be let loose to do this - they are nothing but legalised thugs."

Able Securities said in a letter to Mr Jones that it would not be offering a refund.

It said that pictures taken at the time showed his vehicle was parked under signs warning him he should not do so.

The company's website says that all its area managers and patrolling staff hold Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences.

The SIA said a condition of the licence was that clampers should not immobilise a vehicle displaying a valid disabled badge.

"Clamping a car which displays a valid disabled badge breaks the conditions of holding an SIA licence," said a spokesman.

"We can give warnings or revoke a clamper's licence if we find that this is the case."

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Roy Jones says he was disgusted by the attitude of the firm