7:00am Wednesday 8th September 2010
By James Nadal
A MORNING spent shadowing a parking warden left a councillor 'scared' and 'intimidated' after witnessing hostility and 'vitriol' from more than 20 drivers in Marlow.
Motorists from all age groups and backgrounds launched a tirade of abuse towards the warden, using language “you wouldn't expect on a football terrace” on Saturday, Cllr Dominic Barnes said.
The father-of-three spent three hours with a female officer to get an insight into the job.
Voters raised parking enforcement in Marlow town centre as one of their top concerns during his recent successful by-election campaign.
About 70 per cent of the commuters he observed dealing with the warden were abusive, he said.
Cllr Barnes said it was an “eye opener”.
Despite being a 6ft tall man, he still felt “scared” and “intimidated” by the level of “vitriol”.
“You have expectations but whatever you expect you can times by ten. There was no particular profile of person, it was all ages and groups,” The Great Marlow ward Cllr said.
“The language you heard, you wouldn't expect on a football terrace. It was a surprise to me.”
Motorists who abused the woman officer, who works for Wycombe District Council, were only being warned they faced fines if they stayed where they were – not being given a ticket.
He said he was shocked by the attitude of a teenager dropping off his mother by the bank, saying he would be appalled if it was his own son.
He said: “I wouldn't want to do it as full time job. I was impressed with the work they do and they are certainly not jobsworths."
He said the officer was a “credit” to her job.
Wycombe District Council took over parking enforcement from police, which gave it a lower priority, in October 2008.
But warden duties are to be handed to a private firm – possibly as soon as next year.
Buckinghamshire County Council is to contract out the service for Wycombe, Chiltern and Aylesbury after schemes run by the respective district councils failed to break even.
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