Taxis barricade clampers for nine hours after their controller sends out an SOS call

The call went out just after 7.30am. Taxi dispatcher Maureen Lansley’s car had been clamped and the clamper van was blocking her in until she coughed up the fine. But the drivers at AC Cabs in Southend knew exactly what to do. They sent in the taxi-cab cavalry.

Within minutes, every available car in the area was racing to the aid of poor Maureen, the voice of the airwaves behind a thousand assignments. Two cabs went into the car park and made sure the van was going nowhere. Others blockaded the exit while black cabs, minicabs and people-carriers encircled the site and kept the van corralled.


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What followed was a nine-hour siege (‘ongoing dispute’ was the police’s phrase) involving more than 20 taxis and up to 40 drivers at its peak. Eventually Maureen’s ancient blue Renault was triumphantly freed after cab boss Ian Saxton gallantly paid an £80 fine to prevent his drivers facing arrest.

To cheers and applause from onlookers – and shouts of ‘power to the people’ from spectators in nearby flats – Keith the unfortunate clamper produced the key to the heavy duty padlock, took off the clamp ... and finally got to go home. Meanwhile Maureen was hailed as a heroine for refusing to bow to the clampers. Not to mention avoiding the £150 penalty she would further have incurred if a tow truck had been called out.