I understand that we all have a job to do, not least traffic wardens, but sometimes we are genuinely speechless when we see acts which defy any notion of decency or common sense – the latter being something that we are quite passionate about.
Therefore, you can imagine how exasperated we were when we saw a video of an extremely keen traffic warden who decided to issue a parking ticket to a marked Police vehicle, despite the driver of the Police car trying to reason with the traffic warden before the ticket was issued.
The ‘incident’ occurred in Beeston, Leeds yesterday (17th August) in the afternoon outside of Wilko.
Members of the public who were standing nearby, were clearly disgusted by the action of the traffic warden – and we don’t blame them!
On the video that we have seen, which will be shared in a separate post later on this evening on our Facebook page, the bystanders can be heard talking about how utterly ridiculous it is, that a traffic warden is issuing a parking ticket to a marked police car.
It is hard to try and comprehend the logic (or lack thereof) that must be called upon in order to think that a marked police vehicle is worthy of a parking ticket.
Is it down to a power trip on behalf of the traffic warden? Is it down to a lack of training? Is it because the traffic warden faces some sort of punishment if he does not meet a ‘quota’ of tickets which need to be issued?
Even giving the traffic warden the benefit of doubt, anyone with any sense of decency and/or common sense would surely be hard-pressed to try and find any justification for giving the Police a parking ticket?
It was only a few weeks ago, that we shared the story of two ambulances which were in the process of being reported by a traffic warden who was working for a private contractor in a carpark outside of a Tesco supermarket.
Thankfully, the tickets were never officially registered and the parking company concerned issued an apology after we spoke to them, explaining to us at the time that the traffic warden concerned would be given additional ‘training’.
We had hoped, probably rather naively, that the story would help send a message to any traffic wardens who were tempted to issue parking tickets to emergency vehicles to perhaps think twice about their actions.
Despite having served in the Police myself, I have no idea as to what the law is regarding Police vehicles and parking tickets. Thankfully, the traffic wardens in my borough in the east end of London were an understanding bunch (or at least, they gave the impression that they were).
Reading many of the comments on our last article where we covered the ambulances which were almost issued with the parking tickets, then it seemed pretty obvious that there are various provisions in law which afford protection to emergency vehicles from over-zealous parking wardens.
We keep going over the same points, whenever we cover this sort of story, that the emergency services have to park wherever they need to park, in order to do their job.
We don’t know what the Police Officers were doing at the time of being issued with a parking ticket, but let us assume that they were grabbing something to eat rather than dealing with call.
Anyone with any notion of decency would acknowledge that Police Officers need to be near their vehicle when picking up refreshments, just in case a call comes in and their presence is needed somewhere as a matter of urgency.
No one with any level of decency would expect the Police to have to park in a multi-storey car park and walk for 15 minutes when, if, for example, a call about a stabbing comes in then their attendance at the incident would be delayed by the amount of time that it takes for them to run back to their car.
But clearly, despite the Police Officer speaking to the traffic warden, he has decided that they MUST get a parking ticket – that there’s no alternative!
The manner in which he conducts himself, almost gives the impression that he is ‘proud’ to issue the Cops with a parking ticket – not that the Cops will need to pay it.
He is not only wasting his own time, but he is wasting the Polices’ time as well – someone has to now go to the effort of getting the parking ticket quashed which will take up and waste valuable time.
Time that would have been better spent elsewhere.
Come Monday, we will do a bit more digging and find out which authority the parking warden works for, or for which private contractor he is acting on behalf of.
We will then contact them and ask them to try and explain as to why a marked police vehicle was issued with a parking ticket – just for clarification. Watch this space….
And something tells me, that if ever the warden who issued the ticket ever needs their help, then I reckon that a 3-day-old non-crime domestic incident will probably get priority…
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If the car was parked illegally then why shouldn’t the ticket apply if they were on meal. They are stood down while on meal so they have no excuse. If they were on standby, then they should have parked in a suitable place like the rest of us. Your argument about they need to be near the car is just waffle as you should well know if you were a former officer, if a serious emergency like a stabbing came in, the officers would not be running to the vehicle. Not because they are afraid of attending but, the police run nowhere these days and again you being a former officer would only rondesvous and wait for the Alpha (Armed Response) units to arrive anyway .The ‘valuable’ time you mention is irrelevant. I am a former ambulance driver and have on occasion parked near to a shop to collect some lunch and have ended up in a local paper for not been ready for a call (by a member of the public). Emergency services still need to eat but also have to abide by the law too. The traffic warden is doing his job, if the officers were in a disabled bay, preventing a disabled person from parking, I wonder if the defence of the officers would be the same.
Nobody with any reasonable amount of time in the ambulance service would refer to themselves as an ambulance driver
I referred to myself as an ambulance driver because that is what I was. I am or have never been a paramedic, I was a rapid response specialist ECMO driver. Look it up, you might learn something new. Most paramedics have never even heard of ECMO so don’t be too embarrassed by your ignorance.