THE managing director of wheel clamping firm Parking Control Limited has refused to lower high fees motorists in East Yorkshire are charged when clamped.

Andy Gratton, 46, of Manchester, is the managing director of Parking Control Limited – the company taking over sites previously run by controversial clampers Sector Security Ltd.

He charges £125 for the removal of a clamp and a staggering £275 if a tow truck has been called.

The company has taken over six sites which were Sector's, including the Jet filling station in Princes Avenue, west Hull.

It was the scene of a one-man protest, with the Mail's Clamp Down On The Clampers campaign quickly following in a bid to protect motorists from the high release fees charged by some clamping firms.

Over recent weeks the Mail has highlighted the practices employed by wheel-clampers across the East Yorkshire.

After Mr Gratton took control of Parking Control Limited, he contacted the Mail and asked to speak to a reporter.

He said he had been following all the "adverse" publicity as he had been looking at purchasing the company for some time.

In an exclusive interview with the Mail, Mr Gratton – who has trained clampers in Manchester, Blackpool, Liverpool, London and Colchester – told how he wants to change the way the clampers operated, but refused to budge on the cost of the charges.

He said the £275 charge was actually lower than in some other area.

However, that figure is much higher than the £135 amount the Government is proposing should be the upper limit if new rules to crackdown on clampers are brought in.

Mr Gratton said: "If the Government changes the law I will be the first to change my signs, but at the minute I have no plans to drop the fines."

Pushed by the Mail as to why the charge was £275, Mr Gratton refused to breakdown the fee.

He claimed it was an expensive business to run – though he admitted making a "decent" profit from it.

Mr Gratton said: "I am not willing to go into the specifics at the moment but we have to pay high insurance, we have to pay our staff, we have to pay to keep our staff trained and we have to pay the tow trucks.

"I am not going to sit here and say I don't make good money from it because I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing it."