MOTORISTS are celebrating after forcing a Benfleet garage to ditch its heavy-handed clamping policy.

The five motorists are celebrating after Total petrol station, in High Road, announced it was no longer using parking enforcement firm LPC Parking Solutions.

All five were slapped with three-figure fines by the clampers on Thursday, June 2, when the garage tried to get tough with drivers leaving their vehicles on its forecourt to use nearby shops.

Bricklayer Russell Pinner, 46, staged a two-hour rooftop protest on the petrol station the day after he was hit with a £296 fine when he nipped across the road to buy a sausage roll.

Mr Pinner, from Pitsea, said: “If the protest has done some good it’s fantastic. I couldn’t have wished for anything more.”

The drivers accept they were in the wrong, but are furious with the ruthless techniques employed by the firm, who they claim waited behind a nearby car wash to clamp motorists moments after they left their cars.

Sandra Walker, 50, of Boyce View Hill, Benfleet, was issued with a £150 fine when she parked in the garage to buy chips from the takeaway next door.

She said: “I hold the garage totally responsible. It employed these people.

“It should have looked at the contract and realised what it was letting loose on its own customers.

“Yes, we committed an offence, but the punishment was totally out of proportion for the crime and that’s not right.”

The garage’s decision to ditch the parking firm came after the protestors contacted Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris.

She wrote to Park Garages Group, which runs the petrol station, asking it to reconsider the clamping policy. The firm replied to say it would no longer employ LPS.

However, when the Echo contacted Park Garages Group it would not confirm if it would return to its original policy of a £65 fine for people leaving their vehicles on the forecourt.

Mrs Harris said: “To charge people almost £300 to remove a clamp that has been on for a number of minutes is totally unreasonable.

“Not only did the issue generate a large amount of bad publicity for Total, but I was very concerned it was damaging the reputation of Benfleet High Road at a time when, more than ever, we need to encourage people to support local traders.”