Mr Jobsworth

This week I was parked outside the local "Subway" shop when a traffic Warden... Oops, I mean Civil Enforcement Officer (Thats what they are called now) came up to me and told me I couldnt park there.

I looked around and there was no yellow lines and no signposts saying I couldnt park but he was adamamt that the whole area was restricted. This could easily confuse a lot of drivers as part of the street has double yellow lines meaning dont park and the other part of the street doesnt have any markings which now means "Don`t park" I didnt argue with him as I couldnt be bothered and just moved off.

About an hour later I was waiting at the local train station for a fare when one of their own private wardens approaced me and told me I couldnt wait there without putting money in the "pay and display" machine. This annoyed me and I told him I was waiting for the train to arrive as I had a fare and he was having none of it so I moved to the near by telephone exchange about 20 yards up the road and waited there.

He approached me and warned me to move otherwise he would give me a ticket. I told him that it wasn't railway land and he was out of his jurisdiction to which he started taking photos of where my car was parked so I got out and took a photo of him.

He then changed his tune and said that he would give me a verbal warning not to park there.

It was only a few week ago that Bob (The owner of this blog) had very similar issues and probably with the same Jobsworth.

I have been told by the local council that their wardens are not on any bonuses relating to the number of tickets issued but I beg to differ. There are lots of tickets issued every day and of those that are appealed then it seems the council are not prepared to listen and innocent motorists have been issued tickets.

I do think that traffic wardens get more bonuses the more tickets they issue but ask any of them and they will deny it.

I found a rather comical clip on the internet (below) and seem to get the impression that this could really happen