Clamping antiques store on the move

Chelsea Boyle

Auckland store Bashford Antiques has shut up shop in Auckland’s Williamson Ave to move elsewhere, but its directors are yet to decide where.

Recently, the store gained notoriety for clamping cars that parked outside the store and charging people hefty fines to have their wheels released.

In one case an Uber Eats driver was stung with a $350 fee after parking for five minutes in the private Ponsonby car park while picking up an order.

On another occasion, Auckland couple Sharn and Jamie Phillips were left fuming after a parking folly left them $760 poorer.

The pair headed into Ponsonby with another couple on a night out.

Sharn dropped Jamie and their friends at a restaurant and parked in front of Bashford Antiques. There were signs warning against parking there but Sharn assumed she would be in the clear because it was after business hours.

However, during a confrontation with the store’s director Michael Organ, a parking fee doubled from $380 to $760.

The business quickly received a spate of one-star ratings on Facebook.

Organ said the decision to move Bashford Antiques was “incidental to anything else”.

The business had been doing well and they had received more support for “standing up” for its rights.

They had resorted to having cars clamped after Auckland Towing failed to deter people from parking on the property, he said.