Clampers in gift to birthday boy

A 54-year-old Shrewsbury man was today spending his birthday in his camper van to stop it being towed away by clampers.

David Evans, of Pool Rise, discovered his van - which is parked on his driveway - had been clamped when he returned home yesterday.

Today he was spending his birthday in the van after being warned it would be taken away within 24 hours.

He arrived home yesterday to discover a notice from the DVLA on the van's windscreen.

He said: "They're saying part of my drive is the highway and that nobody owns their own drive.

"I've lived here 30 years and always parked here. My van is tax-exempt because it was built in 1973. I'm going to stay here because they can't move it with me in it."

Other residents were equally shocked when DVLA officers turned out to clamp cars. At least six cars have been clamped and issued with release fees of up to £260.

Many of those living on the street had paid the former Shropshire County Council to have the patches of land leading up to their homes paved up to 10 years ago and so believed they had taken ownership of the land.

Nobody from the DVLA was available for comment today.

Adie George, 41, has lived on Pool Rise for over 20 years. He gave a friend permission to park her car, which had a Statutory Off Road Notification, on what he believed was his drive.

Mr George said: "The car has been reported as off road and so does not require any road tax.

"The police came out back in about March and said the car has to be parked off the road so 'put it on your drive'.

"The council offered us the drives years ago if we paid to have them done. They sent us the bill from the contractors when they did it.

"Everyone around here thinks they own their drive."

Jon Tandy, Shropshire Council ward member for the area, said he would be writing to the DVLA to ask them to clarify where drives were considered part of the highway in Shropshire.

The move follows a similar spate of clampings in Field Crescent, Harlescott, earlier this year when residents who paid a regular maintenance charge to Severnside Housing association also had cars, which they believed were parked on private driveways, hit with fines.

Councillor Tandy said: "What they have done is targeted the houses of people who don't realise their car parking area is the highway."