Henderson resident Carol Beverley had her car clamped by Elite Parking Services on April 20 when she went to shop at the Mad Butcher.

West Aucklanders have been left with a clamped car and a hefty fine after parking in a retail area they intended to shop at.

Carol Beverley parked in the car park located at 20 Sel Peacock Drive in Henderson to shop at the Mad Butcher.

After finding the store was no longer operating, she walked back to her car to find it had been clamped by Elite Parking Services and she was told to pay $200 to have it released.

A spokesperson for the clamping company refused to comment.

READ MORE:

* Frail West Auckland nana clamped while looking for help

* Government looking at making wheel clamping illegal

* Clamping is 'damaging' Henderson's reputation - business association

"It was only a matter of four or five minutes," Beverley said.

DANIELLE CLENT/STUFF A car clamped in the car park on May 1.

"I just feel really upset. If I had of been fined, OK. But $200, that's a lot of money."

Beverley contacted her daughter for help and when she arrived, she was also threatened with having her car clamped.

She said the man demanding the cash wasn't wearing a uniform and was in a "beat-up rusty old car".

DANIELLE CLENT/STUFF A sign at the front says customers can park in the car park for 120 minutes.

"His attitude was very smart and arrogant."

She said he didn't care that she was unaware the Mad Butcher had shut down as it had been closed for a matter of weeks.

Signs for the store were still up and it wasn't clear it was closed apart from a sign on the door saying so.

DANIELLE CLENT/STUFF A uniformed Elite Parking Services parking warden at the car park on May 1.

Beverley paid the $200 as it was the only way she would be able to get her car back. But she didn't understand why she had been targeted as she had parked there with the intention of being a customer.

A few weeks earlier on March 26, Bryan Ward was also clamped in the same car park – which he recently received a $450 fine in the mail for.

Ward arrived at the car park at 10.45am and purchased a coffee from Westside Bakery.

He strolled around the other shops for 45 minutes and returned to his car to find it had been clamped by Elite Parking Services 15 minutes after he had parked.

Ward said he removed the clamp with his hands and threw it in the back seat before driving off.

He noticed a car following him and pulled over because he knew it was the wheel clamper.

"I showed him my receipt that I was there legitimately," Ward said.

"He didn't want to take a copy of it. I offered to give him the wheel clamp back, he said he didn't want it so we just went our separate ways."

A couple of weeks later, Ward said he was shocked to receive a $450 fine from the company in the mail as he thought the matter was resolved.

Ward said the fine was $200 for breaching the car park's terms and conditions, $150 to replace the wheel clamp and a $100 admin fee.

"I was just angry. They've threatened to take me to court if I don't pay for something when I was there perfectly legitimately."

A sign at the car park said it was strictly customer parking, and customers had 120 minutes to park there.

Property manager for the site Aran Blackmore said people using the car park for other reasons had created a need to have it monitored.

Blackmore said he couldn't comment on specific cases of cars getting clamped, but said cars parking in the car park had been detrimental to tenants.

"The car parks are for our tenants and their customers and we have had a real problem of people parking on our property that are not visiting our tenants or shopping there," Blackmore said.

"Hence why we needed to have an arrangement with a monitoring company to monitor the car park."

Gordon Ward, a spokesperson for Elite Parking Services, refused to discuss either matter saying he would no longer deal with journalists.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford had previously said wheel clamping needs to be illegal – and he was working on legislation to make it happen.

"It is time to change the law and either ban wheel clamping or regulate it," he said.