traffic wardens, your opinion on them

Personally I would like to see more.

There is a corner near me by a school, double yellows on both sides and there are regularly cars parked there on both sides overnight.

People seem to think these lines are painted for the sake of it. Combine this poor parking with lunatic drivers driving too fast for the conditions and with in effect it being a blind bend (due to the visibility being reduced by the parked cars) I quite regularly nearly have head ons there, if I didn't take account of the poor visibility and over compensate for people going to quick I would certainly have been in a RTC by now.
 
They're people with a job to do, and they do it. That's all.

If you've been at the negative receiving end of the duties of a traffic warden, it's your own fault.
 
They are necessary, but some can be quite unreasonable.

I once parked in an open air council car park, which had a good number of cars in it and nobody about. I left my car for literally two minutes to pop into a shop next to it to get change for the parking ticket machine.

I bought a ticket and arrived back at my car to find a Traffic Warden writing out a ticket. Firstly, I don't know where he suddenly popped up from and given that there were a lot of cars and my car was parked in the middle of the car park, he had obviously been hiding somewhere in wait and gone straight for my car.

When I asked why he was writing out a ticket, he said that I didn't have a ticket. I then informed him that I had just arrived and went to get some change for the machine. He then told me that I shouldn't have parked if I didn't have the correct coins for the machine, which I thought was pretty harsh. I again pointed out that I'd only been gone a couple of minutes and that it can take that just for some people to go and buy the ticket anyway, so where is the cut off, but he didn't care. I then finally pointed out to him that I did have a ticket because I was holding one having just bought it from the machine. He ignored this and carried on writing it up.

At this stage he was just being plain unreasonable, so I had no choice but to drive off before he finished writing, having paid a £1 to park and would now have to find somewhere else and pay there instead. Of course I left him with a few choice words, but I think I was justified.
 
Orionaut said:
Traffic Wardens may be a necessary evil, just as Tax collectors are, but to actually chose to be one you would need to have a borderline personality disorder and be some sort of sociopath
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I don't think they're 'borderline'.

I bet in school they were the kids that said, "when I grow up, I want to be an *******."
 
They work on figures, the more tickets they dish out the more money they earn. In Manchester they pounce the minute your ticket is expired and the majority of them are immigrants so they don't take offence to any insult you give them anyway.

I remember a time one got stabbed though.
 
They are just doing a job. I have had a few tickets which made me a little annoyed at first before realising it was completely my fault and taking it on the chin. I suspect traffic wardens have strict targets to meet and there is also the safety aspect that discouraging illegal parking does have some potential for saving lives in terms of emergency vehicle access.

Besides, I suspect with the need to re-invigorate the high street with the rise of e-shopping etc, parking in city centres will become easier over the next 10 years.
 
Got done a couple of years ago. Went inside Tesco and parked at the garage and went in, unknowingly they'd made it a 'park-free zone', there were 2 other cars there when I arrived and I thought things were as normal as everyone always parks there.

Was in there literally 3 minutes buying a single envelope, get back and the guy has ticketed me as if he had been waiting. I wasn't rude, just asked him if he enjoyed his job to which he had no response.

Conclusion : Pain in the arse!
 
robskinner said:
Personally I would like to see more.

There is a corner near me by a school, double yellows on both sides and there are regularly cars parked there on both sides overnight.

People seem to think these lines are painted for the sake of it. Combine this poor parking with lunatic drivers driving too fast for the conditions and with in effect it being a blind bend (due to the visibility being reduced by the parked cars) I quite regularly nearly have head ons there, if I didn't take account of the poor visibility and over compensate for people going to quick I would certainly have been in a RTC by now.
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I was going to make pretty much the same post. there's a shop near to me with double yellow lines outside. Loads of cars park there because they think it's ok for a few minutes to use the shop or the cash machine. It's also right by the hospital and not far from the ambulance station so there are a few ambulances an hour trying to squeeze through. It's a busy enough junction as it is.
Nexus said:
They are necessary, but some can be quite unreasonable.

I once parked in an open air council car park, which had a good number of cars in it and nobody about. I left my car for literally two minutes to pop into a shop next to it to get change for the parking ticket machine.

I bought a ticket and arrived back at my car to find a Traffic Warden writing out a ticket. Firstly, I don't know where he suddenly popped up from and given that there were a lot of cars and my car was parked in the middle of the car park, he had obviously been hiding somewhere in wait and gone straight for my car.

When I asked why he was writing out a ticket, he said that I didn't have a ticket. I then informed him that I had just arrived and went to get some change for the machine. He then told me that I shouldn't have parked if I didn't have the correct coins for the machine, which I thought was pretty harsh. I again pointed out that I'd only been gone a couple of minutes and that it can take that just for some people to go and buy the ticket anyway, so where is the cut off, but he didn't care. I then finally pointed out to him that I did have a ticket because I was holding one having just bought it from the machine. He ignored this and carried on writing it up.

At this stage he was just being plain unreasonable, so I had no choice but to drive off before he finished writing, having paid a £1 to park and would now have to find somewhere else and pay there instead. Of course I left him with a few choice words, but I think I was justified.
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I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. Luckily, my ticket had a time or 1 or 2 minutes earlier than booking so the ticket office just waived it.
 
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majnu said:
They work on figures, the more tickets they dish out the more money they earn. In Manchester they pounce the minute your ticket is expired and the majority of them are immigrants so they don't take offence to any insult you give them anyway.

I remember a time one got stabbed though.
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So they work on commission? Sounds like BS to me as the ones around here are employed by the local council and give you a 5 minute period to get back in your car and GTFO before they ticket you. Seems perfectly fair to me.
 
Most are fine, and we do need them as most people can't apply common sense to where they'd park otherwise. As with most jobs where there's some sense of power you do get the ones that take the **** and ticket people they shouldn't - seen someone get a ticket whilst waiting to pick someone up, he'd been there all of 30 seconds, had pulled in on a quiet spot (the road wasn't marked no stopping) and his engine was still on with him in the car.
 
Nexus.

You'd be amazed how many people turn up with a valid pay and display ticket ten minutes after they arrived. You said the magic number ( everyone says 2 mins seriously its a running joke among wardens ) he didn't pounce, wardens are given beats, they recognise new cars that weren't present the last time they visited an area and prioritise those.

As for earning more per pcn I can tell you that's an urban myth, I got the same pay if I issued 3 or 30 pcn's

As with any job dealing with the general public some are well suited to it and others aren't, I did it for four years.
 
Biohazard said:
I love that they double park to do people for the same.

Alas I just annoy them, move the otherside of the street, then back across. Let them get a bit of the ticket done, move across again.. etc.

See if they get bored before whoever I'm waiting for gets into the car.
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If an attendant starts writing the ticket they can send it to you in the post so this sounds like BS to me.
 
Metalface Mark said:
If an attendant starts writing the ticket they can send it to you in the post so this sounds like BS to me.
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They have to complete it, along with photographs and place it on the vehicle before it is considered an issued PCN in Edinburgh.

It takes at least three to four minutes for them to complete, I've sat and watched from start to finish.

Predominantly George IV Bridge.

So no, it isn't BS. I've got better things to do than lie about not getting parking tickets.

Also, if you move and stop again, other side of street, they have to start ticket fresh it is a new contravention.
 
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snapdragon said:
Nexus.

You'd be amazed how many people turn up with a valid pay and display ticket ten minutes after they arrived. You said the magic number ( everyone says 2 mins seriously its a running joke among wardens ) he didn't pounce, wardens are given beats, they recognise new cars that weren't present the last time they visited an area and prioritise those.

As for earning more per pcn I can tell you that's an urban myth, I got the same pay if I issued 3 or 30 pcn's

As with any job dealing with the general public some are well suited to it and others aren't, I did it for four years.
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You are being just as unreasonable as the Traffic Warden.
I was not gone ten minutes.
 
You get taught what the law is regarding on where not to park, what not to do when learning to drive, they put signs up stating 'no parking' etc. If you're really that retarded that you still get a ticket then it's your own fault for being such a dick and disregarding the law.

Why should it matter if it's for one minute or one hour? If you steal something or kill someone (I know it's no-where near as extreme), but that doesn't matter if it takes one minute or an hour, it's still illegal.

And why should you choose to hate someone just because they're choosing to enforce the law? Again, they're doing their job and you're obviously in the wrong or you wouldn't have been given a ticket in the first place.

Personally I'd love to be one in my area with the amount of ****s that just park anywhere, slap a ticket on, job done! :)
 
Nexus said:
They are necessary, but some can be quite unreasonable.

I once parked in an open air council car park, which had a good number of cars in it and nobody about. I left my car for literally two minutes to pop into a shop next to it to get change for the parking ticket machine.

I bought a ticket and arrived back at my car to find a Traffic Warden writing out a ticket. Firstly, I don't know where he suddenly popped up from and given that there were a lot of cars and my car was parked in the middle of the car park, he had obviously been hiding somewhere in wait and gone straight for my car.

When I asked why he was writing out a ticket, he said that I didn't have a ticket. I then informed him that I had just arrived and went to get some change for the machine. He then told me that I shouldn't have parked if I didn't have the correct coins for the machine, which I thought was pretty harsh. I again pointed out that I'd only been gone a couple of minutes and that it can take that just for some people to go and buy the ticket anyway, so where is the cut off, but he didn't care. I then finally pointed out to him that I did have a ticket because I was holding one having just bought it from the machine. He ignored this and carried on writing it up.

At this stage he was just being plain unreasonable, so I had no choice but to drive off before he finished writing, having paid a £1 to park and would now have to find somewhere else and pay there instead. Of course I left him with a few choice words, but I think I was justified.
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Good for you. How unreasonable could he be!
 
I am indifferent towards proper traffic wardens who work the streets of towns and cities, it's the private ones in retail park carparks etc. who i have a massive dislike for.

When I park my bike and go fetch a ticket, for free parking, that has no sticky side, put it on my bike only for it to be blown away in the wind, or maybe some scrote removes it I don't know, I get a ticket. Up until recently I've been able to ignore the extortionate demands made by the company overseeing the carpark but next time I am unsure where I stand. Maybe on the private traffic wardens nut sack.
 
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