CLAMPERS employed to stop shoppers using a GP surgery car park have penalised patients.
Grange Dene Medical Centre, Mytholmroyd, hired the notorious Carstoppers to patrol the 60-space surgery car park and penalise all drivers not visiting the medical complex.
But patients have told the Courier the company, which was named the worst whe
el-clamping firm in the UK by the RAC in 2003, has also been issuing tickets to motorists using the facilities.
Camilla Mumford's car was clamped while making a doctor's appointment.
The 45-year-old, from Cragg Vale, went to make an appointment at a nearby beauty salon before visiting both the opticians and the doctors on the medical complex.
But Carstoppers refused to refund the £75 fee, even when a receptionist verified that she had been to the surgery.
Mrs Mumford, who works as a district nurse in Airedale, said: "I am ashamed to be a part of a system that can treat people like this.
"I don't blame Carstoppers because I understand they have a job to do, but I don't think the practice is being responsible, they should be a model for understanding in the community.''
Susan Murray was also clamped when she went to buy a newspaper before making a doctor's appointment.
Her husband Simon Murray cycled from their home in Booth to join his wife.
He said: "It is bad enough being ill without paying a fine."
Hebden Bridge Group Practice, which manages Grange Dene Medical Centre, declined to comment on patients who had been wrongly fined.
