NOTORIOUS clamping company LBS Enforcement has stopped trading.

The firm has been frequently exposed in the Echo for for its heavy-handed style and extortionate penalty fees as it stalked the streets of south Essex for more than three years.

Director Mark Stone, 43, who set up the business with partners Matthew Boosey and Samuel Lancley, is due to face blackmail charges at Basildon Crown Court next year.

Now it has emerged that the allegations have prompted the Security Industry Authority, which regulates the clamping industry, to suspend Mr Stone’s licence. It has deemed him a risk to the public.

In an e-mail to the Echo, LBS confirmed it had packed up and claimed Mr Stone had retired and left the country.

It stated: “LBS has ceased trading. I’m sure it [the licence suspension] will have no effect whatsoever on Mr Stone, as he retired. He now lives in Spain with his family.”

When the Echo asked whether the company would be officially wound up, the correspondent replied: “As I said, Mr Stone retired. I’m not quite sure what’s happening regarding the company being wound up.”

Clamping companies must have a licence from the security authority to operate legally.

Mr Stone’s licence had been extended until December 2011 earlier this year, but officials stepped in after charges were brought against him.

Mr Stone, of Sandringham Road, Southend, appeared before the town’s magistrates earlier this month.

He is accused of blackmail after allegedly demanding £10,000 with menaces and will appear in crown court on February 18.

Under the authority’s rules, the licence of anyone thought to be a “clear threat to public safety” must be suspended immediately. It is also illegal for someone whose licence has been suspended to hold a security business directorship.

Mr Stone is still registered as a director of LBS, which was issued with a winding-up order last month because it failed to file accounts in July.