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FTA joins clamp row
Page 17
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A controversial clamping company has come under fire again for its parking management at an Essex retail park. Guy Sheppard reports.
A NORTHERN IRELAND operator is accusing parking control company PCM's personnel of acting like vultures after two of its vehicles were clamped while the drivers were having a snack.
The clamping took place at Lakeside Retail Park in West Thun-ock, Essex, last week.
Vincent Wardell,MD of Newrybased Surefreight, says a notice there says 'no overnight parking' but his drivers had visited a McDonald's restaurant for just 20 minutes. "Instead of saying 'no overnight parking' the sign should say 'no HGV parking at any time', he suggests. "There were no double yellow lines there."
Wardell is incensed by the way PCM operates, saying: "They are just like vultures, waiting and following drivers until they stop somewhere."
He reports that PCM demanded £500 to release the two vehicles, bringing the company's total clamping fines to more than £2,000 over the past nine months.
Now the company's case has been taken up by Tom Wilson, Northern Ireland manager for the FreightTransport Association.
"The signage and warning given before clamping is totally inadequate," he says. "If PCM is going to be permitted logo on taking £250 a time,they can easily afford to put up a sign so nobody can have an excuse for parking where they're not supposed to."
However Mark Davis, a PCM manager, claims that there are numerous notices around the retail park clearly stating that HGV parking is prohibited both day and night and may result in clamping if ignored.
-You can appreciate a retail park is designed for cars," he says. "You don't want HGVs there for health and safety reasons such as children being around."
He confirms that PCM retains a proportion of the clamp release fee but strongly denies that its employees lie in wait for unauthorised truck parking.
"We cover 10 sites within the Lakeside business quarter and they are three or four miles apart." Davis adds. "Our guys drive around them all day long."