Why do our 'wardens' have L plates?

7:14pm Thursday 22nd May 2008

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I CHEERED and whooped when I first saw it - and then immediately felt a pang of guilt as I realised what I was celebrating.

It was the sight this week of an illegally-parked car in a narrow High Wycombe street about to be booked by a warden on a motorbike.

Initially, I had felt a smug sense of pleasure that this vehicle was getting its come-uppance.

It was parked half on the pavement across a yellow line and was a slight hazard for passing motorists, including me.

But then sense kicked in on a couple of levels.

Firstly, the owner of the car probably lived in a nearby house and was having to illegally park because there was nowhere else he could go.

I, on the other hand, was not a resident of this back street but was rat running through it to avoid town centre traffic.

In other words, the illegally-parked driver had more right to be in the street than me. I was the intruder, yet because he was presenting an obstacle to my incursion, the authorities were fining him.

And my sympathies were very much with the motorist.

I lived for years in a road with little parking where wardens and fines were a constant threat.

I know how it feels to come home after a hard day's work and find difficulty parking.

So I admit I was wrong to cheer the driver's misfortune this week. I don't necessarily blame the warden if he did book him (I drove on before I could see the outcome), but going after parkers in tight residential roads is rather like shooting fish in a barrel. I'd prefer for our councils to pursue a zero tolerance policy for drivers parked in busy main roads but give a little bit of leeway to homeowners in back streets.

It's a simple fact of life in the town centre that many residential roads don't have sufficient parking and allowances should be made. A quiet word in the driver's ear rather than a ticket would be more appropriate in many of these cases.

But there was something else about this week's episode that got my goat.

The warden's motorbike, or moped, had an L' plate. Yes, that's perfectly legal, I know, and I am sure he was a competent rider. But on a point of principle, is it right that motorists who have passed the full driving test should be booked by someone who is still officially learning to ride the vehicle they are on?

I am aware there is not a competency link between the two things. You don't need to pass a driving test to see if someone has parked illegally. However, our councils are supposed to set standards beyond all reproach and present the most professional image possible, and it strikes me as somewhat clownish to have our vehicles booked by L' plated wardens.

It's rather put me off from ever ordering a takeaway pizza again.

I've nothing against parking wardens. But our councils need to ensure they are seen to be working for us and not against us. The primary objective should be to keep the streets free of obstruction but not penalise drivers at the first opportunity.

I have had a bee in my bonnet over this for years, ever since I found a warden sitting on his bike next to my car which had been parked legally on a yellow line overnight. The restriction kicked in at 8am, and he was sitting there waiting at two minutes to 8.

I was delighted to rob him of his prey by moving the car, but it struck me he could have been using his time better than simply waiting to catch errant motorists out the moment they strayed. I have relayed this anecdote many times over the years to councillors over the years, and would like to hope this practice has been stamped out. Let me know, however, if you have had any similar experiences recently.

Finally, I am certain an army of council press officers is already writing to me about my misuse of the term warden'. They prefer us to call them parking attendants' because old-style traffic wardens were employed by the police and not local authorities.

Well I towed the line and called them parking attendants for years, even though it mucked up all my headlines and prose. But then it dawned on me - the public still and always will call them wardens because wardens are what they are in essence.

So from now on, I will use the language of the street, rather than the terminology of the council.

And if the councils don't like it, I suppose they could always send a warden round to give me a ticket.