RURAL Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans has called on the Government to speed up the licensing of car clamping companies.

Nigel Evans first raised the matter with Caroline Flint, Minister for Policing, Crime Reduction and Community Safety, in June following complaints from one of his constituents.

Alan Smith, 60, of Chatburn Road, Clitheroe, was forced to hand over £140 to car clampers in Blackburn town centre.

In the latest case to come forward, a teenage girl yesterday described how she collapsed in tears when car clampers demanded cash from her late one night in Blackburn town centre.

The MP said: "It's now been two months since I first approached Caroline Flint at the Home Office about this matter. That is too long.

"My constituent Alan Smith is one of many victims who have fallen completely at the mercy of clampers and it is simply unacceptable.

"Today I am writing to Home Secretary David Blunkett calling on him to address the concerns of my constituents and stamp out this mercenary business of unregulated car clamping once and for all."

Now Mandy Bury, 19, of Westwell Street, Darwen, believes she is the latest to fall foul of the same car clamping company as Alan Smith.

She nipped into Jumping Jack's Nightclub, in St Peter's Street, at 11.20pm last Wednesday and left her new Citroen Saxo on spare ground across the road. She returned 15 minutes later to find it clamped and a man hovering nearby who identified himself as belonging to a Darwen clamping firm.

He demanded £100 to release the car and said if she did not produce the money in 10 minutes it would be towed away.

Mandy, a barmaid at the Adelphi Hotel, in Accrington, said: "I was only gone fifteen minutes and left the car on empty spare ground. I don't recall seeing any signs and as far as I know my friends have parked there before. The car wasn't in anyone's way and I couldn't believe it had been clamped.

"The man said it would cost £200 to retrieve the car if it was towed away and I had ten minutes to get the money. I just collapsed in tears.

"I had no choice but to walk through town to an autobank and get the cash. I've only had the car a week and can't believe this has happened. I've been so upset."

The firm is listed by Companies House at an address in Duckworth Street, Darwen, but is believed to have recently moved and has failed to respond to letters or phone calls from Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Caroline Flint said the licensing of car clamping companies was currently being pioneered in Hampshire, with a view to rolling the scheme out across the UK next summer.