A MUSICIAN was left singing the blues after police were called in to settle a dispute over his clamped car.

Charlie Cooke, lead singer of the Oxford band Inlight, was fuming when his Volkswagen Polo was clamped as he got ready for a Children In Need fundraiser at the Bullingdon Arms in East Oxford.

He was forced to pay a £125 release fee. The evening raised just £40.

And the 24-year-old almost found himself on the wrong side of the law when he stood in front of the Secure Car Park Management clamper’s van and refused to let the driver leave.

Mr Cooke, of Iffley Road, said: “I feel very aggrieved.

“The only way of getting music equipment into the venue is to drive around the back and it was very obvious by where the car was what we were doing.

“I don't normally get involved in these sorts of things, but what happened was so disgraceful. We were unloading a piano for a performance for sick kids.”

Mr Cooke said he was unloading instruments at the rear of the concert venue when his car was clamped at about 8.30pm on Thursday last week.

but SCPM managing director Brian Monahgan said his employee could find no evidence the car was being unloaded, which it would have been allowed.

Mr Cooke, whose band had waived their £300 fee to headline the charity concert, said: “I didn’t want to let him leave because he wouldn’t let me leave. It was very unsettling.

“The police were very professional and said they couldn’t get involved in a civil case, but it did kind of ruin the evening.”

He said he had now written a letter to the company appealing for his money back.

Mr Monaghan said: “The fact he was playing a charity gig is unfortunate, but we didn’t know what they were doing in the car park when we clamped them.

“There’s sufficient signage at the car park warning drivers. The vehicle had no permit and there were no visible signs of loading or unloading such as open doors.”