A 94-year-old grandad 'nearly died' after his car was clamped by 'bully' bailiffs. Gordon Seager was rushed to hospital after suffering a major panic attack caused by being 'hounded for weeks' over a parking ticket, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The pensioner had has car clamped outside his house near Liverpool earlier this year, with bailiffs citing the reason being for an unpaid parking ticket. The grandad-of-six has a disabled badge due to his angina and living on a double-pacemaker.
Vehicles with disability badges cannot legally be clamped, despite this Newlyn PLC did so on October 28. Gordon's daughter Rachael says she found her father in a bad state when he realised what had happened.
She said: "I came in and he was having a panic attack. He had gone to his car and there was a clamp put on it and a sign saying it was done at 7.18am.
"We'd had no knock on the door, no call at the house, nothing. He has his disabled badges under his visor.
"It's illegal to clamp a car with disabled badges. He was having an angina attack with the stress.
"He couldn't breathe. He was panicking.
"He was hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably. It was horrendous.
"We thought he was dead. His grandkids were sobbing. It was horrific."
Following the incident, Rachael contacted Newlyn PLC, and said she was told a staff member had visited her father's house in September to warn him about the clamp and the accompanying £424 fine. However, she claims when she checked his CCTV for that date, she found nobody had called.
The 43-year-old also got in touch with Wirral Council's parking department. Rachael said: "We were ringing Wirral Council and the bailiffs and getting nowhere.
"My dad's got a double pacemaker. He can't walk very far.
"He's really not well. We messaged everything over and sent proof he was disabled.
"We were boomeranged back and forth between the council and bailiffs."
"[On November 7] we get a letter off the bailiffs saying my dad was being charged with criminal damage because he had the clamp cut off his car. At this point, my dad had a major issue because of the stress, got blue-lighted into Arrowe Park Hospital and he didn't come out until five days later.
"The hospital was amazing, the paramedics were amazing - I can't thank them enough because we literally thought we were going to lose him."
After the horrific ordeal, the daughter turned to a support group for people struggling with bailiffs. After receiving some advice, she sent Gordon's medical documents to Newlyn PLC and the clamp was finally removed on November 15.
Rachael said: "My dad is the most old-fashioned, well-behaved man. He never misses a payment.
"If he had known anything about the ticket he would have paid it. But the fact that he has been put through this is unfair. It's bullying and scaring old people.
"If my dad didn't have his family around him, it would have taken his life away. His car is his last lifeline, his last link to independence, and to do that to him is cruel.
"All they did was bully and threaten an old man to try to pay £424. I don't want anybody to go through what my dad had to go through, ever. It's wrong."
A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: “The council followed the standard procedure after a parking penalty was correctly served. Once evidence of vulnerability was submitted and confirmed the penalty was cancelled.”
Liverpool Echo contacted Newlyn PLC for comment.
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