SIX HUNDRED and six pounds – that’s the huge fine handed to a couple targeted by clampers in Hampshire.

Last night the fine, one of the biggest in the county, was condemned as “appalling” and “daylight robbery”.

Paul and Marsha Vangelder were visiting their niece Rachel at her flat in Eastleigh when they had their car clamped and towed away.

The couple arrived in Southampton to join the celebrations for Rachel’s husband’s 31st birthday.

They stayed with Rachel, 32, her husband Mick and their two-year-old daughter Mya and parked their black BMW in one of the designated visitor spaces in the now notorious Alexander Square, Twyford Road.

They returned to their car 24 hours later to find it was no longer there.

“We thought it had been stolen,” said Marsha, who had travelled from Essex.

“Then we noticed the signs and realised the car had been clamped and towed away.”

The couple think their car was towed away because they may have exceeded the 24 hour maximum stay limit placed on the visitor bays.

“We could only have overstayed by half an hour at the most and in that time they had clamped our car and towed it away,” said Marsha.

Marsha, 50, was told by clampers Whites Car Park Solutions she would have to pay £180 to release the clamp as well as £300 for the tow truck and a further £126 for the car to be stored in the compound.

The fee was so much because the incident happened on a Saturday and the company’s compound is closed over the weekend meaning the car is stored for an extra day – racking up a bigger bill.

“When I spoke to Whites I explained that we were from Essex and needed the car to get back home,”

said Marsha.

“My husband was due to fly out on a business trip on Monday so we had to be back for him to catch his flight.”

At first Whites refused to release the car but later agreed to send someone down to the compound if Marsha and her husband paid the holding fee in full.

“They gave us no choice but to pay the fine. It was either hand over £606 or not get home. It was disgraceful.”

Rachel, who has lived in her flat for a couple of weeks, said: “We had a fantastic day celebrating my husband’s birthday but now we have been left with a bad taste in our mouths.”

There has been a barrage of complaints from motorists who were clamped in the same place.

People claimed they had been towed away after leaving their cars unattended for a few minutes.

Last week the Daily Echo published a picture of a White’s van parked up in a loading bay when a photographer claimed the driver used the bay illegally while he went to get a burger and chips.

The company denied it arguing the worker was on a personal errand delivering furniture. Whites clampers also hit the headlines when they clamped 30 people in one day by the Tesco at Merry Oak.

The clamping controversy comes as a Bill is currently going through Parliament to outlaw clamping but is not expected to become law until later this year.

Eastleigh councillor Andy Moore said: “It is daylight robbery.

“Things are tight enough at the moment without firms like this robbing you on the roads. They know they will soon be outlawed.”

A spokesperson for the AA said: “It is not morally right to charge such an extortionate and disproportionate amount of money to release a car.

It is for these reasons that the government is taking steps to ensure car clamping is outlawed.”

Whites refused to comment.

Have you been a victim?

Call Simon Carr on (023) 8061 4271 or email simon.carr@dailyecho.co.uk.

Alternatively, write to Simon Carr, Daily Echo, 17 High Street, Eastleigh, SO50 5LF.