Sorry stevebell001 but just because you have an issue with a parking situation I don't feel it reasonable to worry people unduly about parking in Dorset.
I live in Swanage, we have a similar problem, and have had for many years. Lots of people from away, ie visitors, don't realise that parking is restricted at the weekend during the summer months, unlike that in major towns where it is normally restricted during the week, then relaxed at the weekend. All you have to do is to read the sign. Don't take it for granted that the car that parked there before you is parked legally, maybe they have a disabled ticket. Also don't think that parking on the verge, the other side of the yellow lines is legal, because it isn't, and it wasn't 25 years ago when I got a ticket either.
We all know that the press like to sensationalise stories, and that people tell stories "thier way" to support the arguement.
Most of the clamping companies either started life in the towns or copy the dubious methods of those that did, the government is (excuse the pun) clamping down on these rouge companies on a daily basis.
Dorset, and more specifically Weymouth, are lovely places to visit, yes they do have parking restrictions, and indeed have to have due to the vast number of seasonal visitors, but let's not suggest that they are actually any worse than the rest of the country for the way that the local authority raises cash.
Let's be honest. Most of us have pushed our luck at some time or another by thinking we'll only be a minute, taken longer than we thought and finding a ticket on our car.......
And you're telling me you didn't come up with a story to try to get out of it?????
Chill a little, life is life.