January 19, 2011 4.10 pm This story is over 158 months old

County parking warden jobs scrapped early

Fixed penalty: Lincolnshire Police will scrap all six parking warden jobs in the county, two of which are in Lincoln.

Lincolnshire Police have taken an unexpected decision to scrap all six parking warden jobs in the county, two of which are in Lincoln.

The force, which runs the service, issued redundancy notices to its five parking wardens and a sixth one will be taking compulsory retirement.

Yearly funds of £40,000 for the two parking wardens responsible for the Lincoln area were ring-fenced by the City of Lincoln Council.

The redundancies are in advance of the Lincolnshire County Council taking over the service from police, but the power transition is not yet complete.

Until the County Council takes over the service, only police officers and PCSOs will have the power to fine motorists parking illegally after March 31.

No free-for-all parking

Lincolnshire Police squashed fears that the power transition would results in free-for-all parking across the county.

“Police officers are able to enforce traffic law and parking restrictions and in 2009 the Chief Constable granted PCSOs additional powers to deal with parking issues,” said Lincolnshire Police Chief Inspector Mark Housley.

“They have been successfully dealing with these issues in our communities across Lincolnshire since then.

“As parking enforcement is now the responsibility of local authorities, we are working with them to ensure that civil parking enforcement is introduced as soon as possible.”

The County Council gave no indication to a timeline until they will take over Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) responsibilities from police.

“After following all the necessary processes, we hope this will be in place as soon as possible,” said Brian Thompson, Divisional Highways Manager.

“We are sorry to hear of the traffic warden redundancies.

“The authority is currently carrying out a financial revaluation to ensure there is best value for taxpayers, which will be followed by a statutory consultation, making sure all views are taken into account.

“It’s then intended to make an application to the Department for Transport (DfT) to assume CPE powers. We’ll then be in the hands of the DfT in terms of how quickly they award this.”

The City of Lincoln Council paid for two of the parking wardens roles in the city, enforcing the rules of residential parking.

City Council Deputy Leader Marc Jones also said he was disappointed with the redundancies.

“I’m very disappointed that Lincolnshire Police took this decision with no consultation, providing we pay £40,000 per year for this service.

“We will be meeting with Lincolnshire Police to ensure they do enforce the rules around residential parking in Lincoln,” Jones added.

Related Reports: BBC Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Echo | Photo: Craig Campbell