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PCM denies clamp claims
Page 16
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Drivers accuse Thurrock of over-zealous clamping. Jennifer Ball reports.
PARKING CONTROL Management (PCM) has hit back at claims that it is unfairly clamping trucks in and around West Thurrock —but operators are still complaining that they are being victimised by over-zealous dampers.
Robert Wilcox, MD of Somerset firm Massey Wilcox, says one of his drivers had left his truck unattended for only five minutes when he found it had been clamped:"He also witnessed them clamp a truck that had just pulled in to close its doors. And when another truck driver pulled up with the intention of stopping the PCM operators signalled to my driver to keep quiet, making it obvious that they intended to catch him, too.
"He warned the other truck driver and was given intimidating looks by them [PCM]. I can understand the owners of the estate wishing to ban trucks from using it as a parking lot at night, but during the day drivers should at least be given a few minutes before being clamped. The roads on this estate are not marked with yellow lines to alert drivers of parking restrictions — all [the only warnings] there are is small notices attached to lampposts."
Last week, David Broom was forced to £250 to get his truck unclamped at the same spot (CM 28 August).
But Andrew Oliver, PCM's head of operations, insists that the company's signs make it abundantly clear that HGVs are banned from certain areas.
"We are employed by a selection of landowners across Thurrock who unfairly suffer from massive abuse from HGV drivers who use the bushes as toilets, the area as a lorry park and park across access roads," he says. "They're a menace to people trying to carry out business here."