A man removed a wheel clamp from his car after finding it immobilised in Hamilton for a second consecutive day.

He parked in City Hall car park for too long on Wednesday and paid the Corporation of Hamilton $100 to have a clamp removed from his vehicle.

But when it was clamped again the following day he used tools from the trunk of his car to remove the clamp.

“I’m tired of paying them,” he said, speaking to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

Although he admitted he was in the wrong — he thought he had parked in a company’s private parking lot — he was concerned he might be paying to have a clamp removed when he could just remove it himself.

Like other drivers who have found their cars clamped since Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner first threw out a clamping-related case back in May, the young man expressed frustration at the lack of clarity regarding the issue.

There is no legislation that gives any individual the legal authority to clamp a car outside of municipal limits. As such, Mr Warner ruled, an individual is completely within their rights to remove a clamp placed on their vehicle as they see fit.

The problem arises when residents are clamped within the City of Hamilton limits. While legislation exists that says the Corporation is allowed to clamp illegally parked vehicles, the Centre for Justice maintains a public notice was never published in the official gazette of the time, The Bermuda Sun.

Although the Corporation has yet to prove in court that it has a legal authority to use wheel clamps, the practising of clamping has continued unabated. And according to one source, both the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions have discussed the issue.

“[They agree] clamping is against the constitution,” said the legal source, pointing to similar sentiments that are reflected in some of Great Britain’s laws.

The Corporation last month said it hoped the Supreme Court would make a ruling “at the earliest opportunity” to bring the issue to a close.

But aside from the legal complexities of clamping, and until a ruling is made on the Corporation’s ability to clamp, two men have been charged with stealing and damaging wheel clamps and another man has claimed he was fired from his job for removing a clamp.

Meanwhile, following a report that one man even threw the clamp he removed from his car into the ocean, the Corporation issued a press statement warning motorists not to damage clamps or threaten staff.