THE clamping company employed by Tesco clamped a number of cars parked behind the One Stop Shop in the Market Place yesterday.

Tesco, which owns the One Stop Shop, brought in a clamping firm earlier this month to control the parking in the 28-space car park.

Yesterday the Gazette was told three cars had been clamped. Motorists have to pay a release fee of £85.

Also this week the cost of parking in the car park increased dramatically.

For one hour's parking the cost went up by 20p to 40p, for two hours it went up by 40p to 80p, for three hours it increased by 90p to £1.50 and for four hours it is now £2.60, up from 80p.

The maximum stay is eight hours, which costs £5. There is no change to free parking for half an hour.

A spokeswoman for Tesco said: "The prices have gone up in line with the local authority parking. The store does use an external company to manage the car park and is clamping vehicles that are parked without displaying a ticket or not parked in the designated bays.

"There have been problems with people parking and not paying. Bringing in an external company has cut down on illegal use to ensure customers have somewhere to park."

The Gazette has observed that two thirds of the car parking spaces have been empty since Monday's price rise.