FURIOUS residents have criticised the company which built their homes after car clampers moved in late on Saturday night.

Residents at Bay View Court, Station Road, brought in the clamping company after a lengthy dispute over car park spaces outside the flats.

Owners Crowther Homes insisted that residents who had not paid £2,500 for a space in the building's secure car park stopped using guest spaces.

They even put up bollards across certain spaces, which were cut down by angry residents.

Signs were put up warning that cars would be clamped, but these disappeared last week.

And clampers from a Leeds-based company forced residents to pay up to £300 in cash -- even though some illegally parked cars had not even been clamped

It was almost 11pm on Saturday when the company began to take action.

One resident, Liz Ashurst, returned from her hen night to face a bill for over £300 to have her car returned.

She now fears the aggressive clampers will overshadow her wedding this weekend.

She said: "I am going to be looking over my shoulder on my wedding day. They have assured me that they will not clamp my wedding car, but there is nowhere for my mother to park to drop off my flowers.

"On Saturday, one person was told to pay a nearly £300 towing away charge, even though her car had not been moved. They said she had to pay it because the tow truck had arrived.

"The worst thing for me is that I feel petrified going home at night or looking out of the window because I see these people hanging around."

Crowther Homes sales director David Robinson said clampers had been brought in only as a last resort after residents had sawed down the bollards.

He said: "It was obvious people would not buy the remaining car parking spaces when they could use them for free.

"We've written to people and we've been trying to negotiate with them for three years."

Despite repeated attempts, the Citizen was unable to contact the company