Bar owner defends clamping non-diners' cars

The owner of the new Black Door Bar & Eatery says the wheel clamping signs were put in place to be transparent on what the car park is for.

By Georgia O'Connor Harding

A new Christchurch bar and cafe is adamant it can clamp or tow away non-customers' vehicles even though the district council says the matter is unresolved.

The Black Door Bar and Eatery opens in Lincoln on Friday on the site of the old Tea House in Robert St.

Clamping and tow away signs appeared several weeks ago covering five parallel car parks outside the bar and seven outside the adjacent Lincoln Village Pre-School and Nursery.

Two of the signs outside the nursery have been removed in the past week.

But the district council is still considering legal advice over whether the signage complies with the resource consent.

Black Door owner Anita Alder has not been responding to questions from the Selwyn Times about the issue.

But she has stated its case on their Facebook page after a post over the issue.

Alder said there was a resource consent on the 12 car parks that are registered to 6 Robert St for the use of the business.

"At present we have residents ignoring both ours and the district council's signage and using them as private parks, not very cool really," Alder said on Facebook.

She said the district council was "gearing up for enforcement across the board".

"Enforcement will apply... we are just working through how and by whom," she said.

She was working with the district council to determine whether the district council or Black Door would enforce restrictions.

Yesterday, district council environmental service manager Tim Harris would not comment on Alder's Facebook response about "across the board enforcement".

He also would not discuss the clamping and tow away issue.

"The Selwyn District council is speaking directly with the owner of the business to resolve this issue," he said.