Furious drivers turned the tables on clampers when they trapped them in a car park for three hours until they released eight cars which had been clamped.

Residents on a complex of newly built flats woke up to find two men busily putting wheel clamps on any cars which did not have a parking permit.

Angry drivers phoned family and friends to drive over and block the entrance to the car park - so the clampers were stuck inside.

Vincent Martin 36, a taxi driver who lives in the exclusive complex in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: "I woke up at 8.30am and I heard a commotion going on so I threw some clothes on and went outside.

"I saw there were two men dressed in black in a van. They were really big, bald-headed guys and looked really intimidating.

"They had clamped about seven or eight cars and the drivers were out there shouting and crying.

"Luckily I'd got my permit and already put it on but some people were saying they had not received theirs.

"People missed work and hospital appointments."

Signs dotted around the car park warn residents they face an £80 parking ticket or £125 clamp release fee if they do not display a permit while in an allocated residents' space.

Mr Martin said he had got several letters warning that enforcement action was starting but some residents claimed they had not received them.

The problem appears to have started when Ringley, the flats' managing agents, sent out letters to the residents' old addresses, who were then unaware when the scheme would begin.

Full article here.