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THEY clobber you as soon as your tyre tracks hit a yellow line – but as our pictures show, the rules are easier to bend if you are one of Camden’s own parking wardens.
Our shots, sent to the New Journal news desk by a disgruntled reader, catch out a parking warden who has dumped his car on double yellow lines in the busy Highgate residents parking zone area in the village.
The anonymous snapper then watched the warden wander around Pond Square issuing tickets for more than an hour.
The snapper said: “Not only was [the warden’s car] illegally parked, it was dangerously parked too. It was right on the corner of a T-junction, denying drivers turning right any sight lines, which are needed as cars approaching from the right go at speed.
“[The warden] had given tickets to drivers who, in no cases, were dangerously parked nor parked in such a straightforwardly illegal way as himself.”
But although the warden is clearly parking illegally, the council’s parking contractors NSL say he was breaking no laws, as they are allowed to basically park wherever they like in order to do the job. The company added that Highgate was so bad for problem parking the warden was right to find anywhere to leave his car – in order to “manage” other spaces.
NSL spokesperson Tim Cowen said: “It is permitted for CEOs (Civil Enforcement Officers) to park in what would otherwise be contravention as long as they are carrying out parking enforcement. This is what happened here.
“This street has particular traffic pressures so it is important for CEOs to be a regular presence there to assure residents that parking in this busy location is being properly managed.”
He added: “Camden Council requested that NSL carry out an investigation. The CEO’s records indicate that over a two-hour period he visited three times, staying no more than eight minutes on each occasion, and ensuring he stayed near his vehicle so that it could be moved if necessary.”
DAN CARRIER