A STUDENT has been left fuming after having to pay out £100 to release her car, which was clamped in a private residents' car park while she left it to collect a visitor's pass.

Julia Greenan, 24, of Naburn, said she left her vehicle in a visitor's space at Bishops Wharf, in Postern Close, York, at 9.30pm last Friday for only a few minutes while she went to her friend's flat to pick up a pass.

But when she returned, one of the wheels had been clamped.

The man who had clamped it told her he had waited ten minutes to see if someone would return before putting it on. She showed him her visitor's pass, but he refused to release the car and said she would have to pay a fee of £100. "He said he had waited for ten minutes, but he was not there when I left, so it could not have been that long," said Julia, who visits her friend, Lucy Hornsby, at her flat most weeks. Her friend was waiting for her at Fibbers when events unfolded.

Julia said: "He was totally unreasonable. He refused to take it off, even when I showed him the pass. I was crying my eyes out.

"I did not have £100. I had to ring my mum in Naburn. She drove all the way to go to the bank to get some money. She was very upset."

Julia said it took two hours to get the car released and she even called the police to see if they could help.

"The police told me to pay. They said it was a civil matter and I would have to see a solicitor. My friend is ringing her landlady, but there's not much we can do."

Peter Watson, managing agent of White Rose Property Management, who act as agents for the Bishops Wharf management company, said Julia had contacted him about the incident, but added that White Rose was not responsible for the clamping of vehicles.

The chairman of Bishops Wharf management company, the Rev Ross Thompson, told the Evening Press: "It's all been resolved," but declined to comment further.

Julia said today that, after a number of phone calls, she had been informed that the management board would convene a meeting to discuss her situation.

Updated: 10:27 Wednesday, December 01, 2004