A teacher whose car was wrongly clamped and destroyed by the DVLA in Harrow has won her fight to claim back the cost of the vehicle.

An investigation conducted by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found the DVLA had wrongly clamped the woman’s car, which was parked outside her home in a private road.

The car had been registered as off the road, as the owner had been waiting until after Christmas to get it repaired once she had enough money to do so.

She complained repeatedly to both the DVLA and the contractor that clamped her car on behalf of the agency, but neither organisation investigated the matter.

The investigation found that because the mistake was not put right by the contractor or the DVLA, the mother felt forced to sign a disclaimer to give up her car as she could not afford the £100 release fee and the car was then destroyed.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said: “Our investigation found that the DVLA’s contractors should not have clamped the car and the DVLA failed to resolve the mistake.

“This mistake caused this mother unnecessary distress. The DVLA and its contractors should have investigated the matter when the complainant first got in touch.

“Our investigation found that the DVLA did not make its appeal process clear to the complainant.

“Its complaint handling was poor and its explanations about why it clamped her car were inconsistent.”

Following the investigation the DVLA apologised and paid the woman £1,000 for the value of the car it had destroyed, along with a further £300 for the stress, inconvenience and frustration it caused her.

The DVLA also gave its staff and contractors clear written information about the correct procedure to follow to resolve a problem.