Morning:
13°c
Parking wardens ‘are out of order’
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard29.02.08
Police launched an investigation today into an alleged parking swindle by traffic wardens in Westminster.
Attendants are accused of trapping motorists by putting “out-of-order" stickers on working meters — allowing drivers to park free — then later removing them and issuing fines.
The Met investigation comes after a Notting Hill restaurateur claims he was assaulted after confronting a warden whom he alleged had carried out the con trick on him twice in two days.
Rupert Baird-Murray, who runs Rosa's Dining Room, alleges he was first duped on 12 February after parking in Westbourne Park Villas at an “out-of-order" meter.
He returned to his car an hour later to find a parking fine and the sticker removed from the machine. When Mr Baird-Murray confronted the warden about the sticker, he denied its existence.
The next day he approached the warden again after allegedly seeing him remove another sticker from the same machine.
He said: “I saw him pull the sticker off. I said to him, You just took that sticker off'. He said, I don't know what you are talking about' but I could see it scrunched up in his hand.
“I said it was fraud and called the police. He started pushing against me with his scooter as I tried to stop him leaving."
Mr Baird-Murray, 36, was later accused of assaulting the warden after he fell off his scooter while trying to drive past the restaurateur over the pavement. Both men were arrested and spent nine hours in a police cell. They have been bailed until next month.
Mr Baird-Murray is being backed by Karen Buck, Labour MP for Regent's Park and Kensington North, who is writing to Westminster council demanding an apology.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Officers from Westminster were called to an incident in Westbourne Park Villas between 11.45am and 12.45pm on 13 February. It is believed there had been an altercation between two men over parking arrangements in the street.
“The men, aged 31 and 36, made allegations against one another and both were arrested on suspicion of common assault. There were allegations involving out-of-order' stickers. We are looking into it."
A spokesman for Westminster council said: “Any incident of inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour by a parking attendant will be fully investigated."
NCP, which employs the council's traffic wardens, defended its staff and said it had not yet been contacted by police.
A spokesman said: “Parking attendants have a very difficult job and from time to time people make allegations against them. They are there to enforce regulations appropriately and professionally."
• Clamping is to be phased out for all but the worst offenders in Westminster. Last year, 14,600 motorists were clamped in the borough compared with 47,463 in 2004/05. The phasing out comes ahead of the Traffic Management Act, which has new guidance on clamping.
Reader views (2)
1. Sell contracts to private companies.
2. Pay minimum wages.
3. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
- Dogjon, London
Incentivising traffic wardens is a loathsome practise which is designed to boost Local Authority coffers and the pockets of the enforcement companies.
It is way over time for motorists to fight back.
- Roger, london
