A HEALTH and safety officer aims to rid wheel clampers from a doctor's surgery where patients and staff have found their vehicles immobilised.
John Houlihan, of Cheshire West Primary Care Trust, is concerned after a midwife was clamped by North West Clamping at the rear of the Northgate Medical Centre in Upper Northgate Street, Chester.
He is worried a clinician could be prevented from attending an emergency, potentially putting patients' lives at risk.
Parking is at a premium at the site where the doctor's surgery only has four spaces within a larger car park.
But the surgery has been concerned for years that vulnerable patients have been clamped as well as doctors and district nurses collecting medication for the terminally ill and people pop-ping in to deliver repeat prescription requests.
GP practice manager Clare Farr said: 'The behaviour of the clampers has traumatised the community health staff who have been clamped, often more than once, and as a result have withdrawn their services which means we cannot offer the full range of services we would wish to.'
She said the clampers were approached by medical staff asking them to remove the clamps for no charge but they 'weren't interested'.
In the long term the practice hopes to find a more suitable building in the neighbourhood.
Martin Ward of St Chad's Road, Blacon, recently took his seriously ill wife to the surgery and was clamped and asked to pay the £70 release fee.
The clamp was eventually removed at no charge but Mr Ward has complained to the police. He said the matter had been very upsetting.
Watkin Jones, located behind the Gorse Stacks redevelopment scheme, owns the car park and gave the clampers permission to operate there because it was abused in the past.
A spokeswoman for the developer was concerned to hear about the alleged behaviour of the clampers and said she would be speaking to North West Clamping. She said Watkin Jones was prepared to intervene to get clamps removed in exceptional circumstances.
However, she said it was for the doctor's surgery to address the problem that it had an insufficient number of spaces. She said the issue would soon become irrelevant because the car park would be redeveloped as part of the Gorse Stacks scheme which will include 144 apartments, an under-ground car park and shops.
North West Clamping refuses to take calls from The Chronicle.
HAVE YOU BEEN A VICTIM OF CLAMPERS? Telephone: 01244 606424/5
E-mail: newsroom@cheshirenews.co.uk
