Bosses at Leyland firm Able Skip Hire had to fork out £155 after clampers working on behalf of the Ribbleton yard's landowner targeted the truck, which was left for less than two minutes.

Brent Johnstone, director at the Centurion Way-based company, said they have been picking up the skip on behalf of roofers W Hughes and Sons up to twice a week for more than a decade.

W Hughes, based in Collinson Street, Ribbleton, have an arrangement with FC Snooker, based across the road in Collinson Street, to keep the skip in their rented yard.

FC Snooker rent the land from a landowner who has enrolled National Clamps to stop people parking on it illegally.

When the driver arrived at around 10am on Monday, he found the yard locked and went to W Hughes office to get the keys.

He then picked up the skip before locking the gate and leaving his truck on a path in front of the gates to take the keys back.

But when he returned, the clampers had struck.

Mr Johnstone blasted Preston-based National Clamps and vowed to appeal.

But a spokesman for National Clamps said the vehicle was correctly impounded and revealed they had to call police after Able Skip staff threatened to cut the clamp off.

Mr Johnstone said: "We have been doing this for 10 years and there is no other way of doing it.

"They just said to me the vehicle was on private land and we should have two people in the truck.

"We paid it in the end but we will try to get the money back.

"I told the clamping company we were going to remove the thing because we were not going to stand for this.

"All we were doing was doing our jobs."

A spokesman for National Clamps said one of their operatives spotted the unoccupied truck parked illegally.

The spokesman added: "The vehicle was correctly immobilised and the landowner was happy with how we handled the situation."

But Derek Cooper, of W Hughes and Sons, said: "I would say it was unreasonable.

"It cannot have been there for more than two minutes."
An employee at FC Snooker confirmed the skip is kept in the yard, which FC Snooker rents.

The company's owner was not available for comment.

A police spokesman said the matter was a "civil dispute."



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