PEOPLE living in Worcester’s upmarket waterside development were furious to wake up and find that their cars had been clamped in the middle of the night.

The residents say there was no sign warning about clamping when they went to bed – although one had appeared by the next morning.

They had parked their cars outside their homes in Armstrong Drive, off Portland Street, Diglis.

The wide paved area is owned by developer Berkeley Homes which built and sold the homes, although it is not clear if it was responsible for calling in the clampers.

The town houses are allocated one parking space in a nearby underground car park, but residents say most households have more than one car.

Staff from Berkshire-based Parking Control Management UK arrived between midnight and 2.30am last Thursday.

Sean Mimnagh, who had to fork out £130 for his vehicle to be released, said: “We all woke up this morning to find residents’ wheels had been clamped overnight.

"The sign saying clamping is in operation wasn’t on display yesterday. There were about 10 cars targeted. Everybody’s quite shocked.”

Another, whose car was clamped, but who did not want to be named, said: “Most people have got more than one car in their families nowadays.

"There were no signs up yesterday – the residents’ wheels had been clamped overnight.

“There were no signs up before – they must have gone up overnight. I don’t very often park on the street but the electric gates to the car park can play up.

“There were signs up before but they were taken down months ago and in all that time people have been parking here.

"Very often, people who park outside don’t live here but it’s not caused problems. There’s lots of room either side.”

Dyan Wyatt agreed that non-residents should not be allowed to park on the private road, but said people should be able to park outside their homes.

“There should be some sort of residents’ (on-street) parking,” she said. “They don’t provide enough parking facilities.”

David Blake, of PCM, claimed signs had been displayed since Armstrong Drive was created as an access road in July 2010. He refused to say who had requested the clamping.

He said the new signs replaced ones placed on boarding, which had been taken down as the development progressed.

“We operate on the site 24/7, which the signage clearly states, and once again the residents are clearly aware of such, so it is not untoward that we might be on site early morning or late at night,” he said.

“Residents are very much aware of where they are allowed to park, i.e. the underground car park. Even if they display a valid permit to park they will still be immobilised if they park on the access road, the paved areas or the lawned areas.”

A spokesman for Berkeley Homes (Oxford and Chiltern) Ltd, which is running the development, declined to comment.