COMPLAINTS have been flooding in about allegedly heavy-handed and unfair treatment at the hands of a wheel-clamping company whose antics have caused misery to motorists in Bounds Green.

Despite Home Office announcements to outlaw the practice within the next year, it seems Sango Security Ltd have become extra diligent about enforcing parking restrictions on private road Brownlow Parade.

Last week, the Haringey Independent reported how four "bouncer types" clamped a young woman who had stopped on the road to buy a magazine, and ended up paying nearly £500 after refusing to pay the initial fine.

But on the day the paper went to press last Thursday, the clampers appeared from nowhere to catch out diabetic pensioner Demos Kambouris, who stopped his car to visit a nearby pharmacy and collect his medication.

Mr Kambouris said he did not see the signs, which do exist but are small in size, warning drivers their cars were at risk of being towed.

He returned almost a minute later to find he was being clamped. As he did not have the cash to pay the fine, he handed over his card to one Sango staff member who disappeared into the back of a nearby van to take a £146 payment on a handheld machine with an unstable connection.

Mr Kambouris said: “They may as well have walked up to me and asked me to hand over my money. I was the victim of daylight robbery at the hands of a pack of gangsters who are as big as mountains.

"What kind of people run a company like this? They don't care about proper parking, they just want your money. If they were so concerned they could paint lines on the road, put a gate, or even bigger signs. They are disgraceful. This is not the way real men make money."

The 70-year-old, who has owned the Queen's Hotel, in Seven Sisters Road, for more than 20 years, said he believed local traders should put up a fight against the over-zealous wheel-clamping that happens outside their doorsteps almost every day.

He added: “I am a business owner myself and I have been approached by clamping companies offering commission for tip-offs about people parking and I have told them to get lost. The clampers are bad for business. I am not sure I will come to these shops in Bounds Green again if this is what is going to happen to me.”

The Haringey Indpendent has made further attempts to contact Sango, whose address is listed as a PO Box in east London. The business is registered with Company House at an address in Wood Green, and their card payments are processed through an address in Coventry.

A telephone numberlisted on official company paperwork rings once before callers are told the number is currently unavailable.

A spokeswoman at the Security Industry Authority (SIA) who regulates clampers said it could not comment on whether individual companies were under investigation, but urged motorists who had serious concerns to log complaints via their website.

She added that in instances of violence or threatening behaviour, motorists should contact the police.