Traffic Wardens

[bhanutz]

Hmmm, I can't quite work out what is so bad about traffic wardens compared to other public servants.

Bank managers refuse you loans, or charge you for being overdrawn, but I've not heard of anyone going into Barclays and telling the manager with clenched fists that they hope his boyfriend dies of AIDS.

Estate agents are notorious for misleading people, but people don't generally go into Mishon Mackay and spit at the woman behind the desk.

And insurance companies will try anything in the book to avoid paying out the full amount when you prang your car, but it doesn't mean hordes of people descending on Royal & Sun Alliance to punch the crap out of the claims handler.

So what is so different about parking attendants that makes some people so incapable of exercising a bit of basic self control? You might be a bit pissed off at getting a ticket, but nobody deserves to get spat at for doing what they're paid to do (take it from me, it happens). Grow up, contest the ticket if you so wish, but there's no need to resort to childish abuse, or worse, physical threats.

bloody coppers, always ruining everyones fun!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

bloody coppers, always ruining everyones fun!

I can see why people get wound up, even if sometimes it's your own fault for being too lazy to go find a car park.

I just happen to think spitting at people is manky. I bet plenty of people on here work in customer facing roles would be repulsed if someone gobbed on them.

It's neither grown up or witty to hurl abuse or threaten someone, even if they are a complete jobsworth. Don't know how the appeals process works, but I'm betting the more crap you give the warden, the less likely your appeal is to succeed- after all I'm fairly sure any company would want to back its employees, even if they are traffic wardens.

 

[chez]

Hmmm, I can't quite work out what is so bad about traffic wardens compared to other public servants.

Bank managers refuse you loans, or charge you for being overdrawn, but I've not heard of anyone going into Barclays and telling the manager with clenched fists that they hope his boyfriend dies of AIDS.

Estate agents are notorious for misleading people, but people don't generally go into Mishon Mackay and spit at the woman behind the desk.

And insurance companies will try anything in the book to avoid paying out the full amount when you prang your car, but it doesn't mean hordes of people descending on Royal & Sun Alliance to punch the crap out of the claims handler.

So what is so different about parking attendants that makes some people so incapable of exercising a bit of basic self control? You might be a bit pissed off at getting a ticket, but nobody deserves to get spat at for doing what they're paid to do (take it from me, it happens). Grow up, contest the ticket if you so wish, but there's no need to resort to childish abuse, or worse, physical threats.

But they mostly do it for a valid reason not just to piss you off and make sure you have a bad day, which although I'm sure isnt true certailnly looks that way when they give you a ticket.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

But they mostly do it for a valid reason not just to piss you off and make sure you have a bad day, which although I'm sure isnt true certailnly looks that way when they give you a ticket.

Think you just contradicted your own argument there

I can understand your frustration, obviously I'm just too neurotic about this kind of thing, as I'm inevitably the one queuing for 15 minutes to get in the car park, while you're probably the one swanning past and taking the chance of dumping your car on the lines right outside the shop for a moment. Sometimes you're going to get away with it, sometimes you're not.

I just think it's odd how the most rational of people get so wound up by this kind of thing, and yet they don't with banks, or call centres, or any other customer interface.

 

[chez]

Both times Ive got tickets they have been for ridiculous things. My first one was when I parked properly but had to nip into my shop for some change - there was a fight in the shop (off licence) and the police had to be called, by the time Id returned to my car I'd received the ticket and the police refused to back up my story about the fight - that pissed me off even more. I was just greeted with a smug warden who couldnt keep at straight face.

The 2nd one was in Gillingham when I was told I could park in the spot to do a drop and I was fine as a bus could easily get by. On my return I wa again confronted by a laughing warden and a bus driver who wouldnt have been able to drive a bus down a runway without crashing.

They are absolute wankers!!!! End of.

 

[¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>]

From the post I imagine that he or she more likely has never even been to London and probably doesnt drive.

I only go there 5 days a week.

get over youself cockhead.

 

[chez]

I only go there 5 days a week.

get over youself cockhead.

Well I stand corrected. You are though the first person I've ever heard about that goes to London and doesnt hate traffic wardens. It goes with the territory.

 

[BensGrandad]

Doesnt only happen in London try the car parks in Worthing now they are controlled by NCP. One woman, I have seen, hides behind a car waiting for the time to pass the allocated time and to then pounce.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

As a bus driver, Traffic Wardens i love them You think as car/van driver you can park/drop off anywhere No you cant a bus stop is for buses. You park just where you think you can 'getaway with it' Like some one said carry coins. No Problem. Or is that to hard ?

 

[Gully]

I carry a spare tyre in my car, and a jack, just in case I get a puncture. I carry a first aid kit, just in case I come across an accident (as I have on several occasions) and need to administer first aid. Whilst living on the continent I also carried a red warning triangle, a tow rope and a fuel can because that was the law in some countries. Why is it so difficult to carry a few coins, just in case you need to park your car?

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Well said. Gully.

 

[Billy the Fish]

To say that it is my fault because I wasn't carrying coins is ridiculous. If someone gets mugged you don't say it's their fault for not learning self defence. I went out of my way to let him know that I was getting change, he said that was ok and then sent me to where there were no shops knowing full well that there was a shop just up the road, that is out of order.

Edna, the difference is that for all of those things you are paying for some kind of service, you have a choice if you want to use it or not. I've had tickets before and accepted it because I was parked on yellow lines, thats fair enough. In this case I have been stitched up by some jobsworth so that he can hit his target, and it's going to cost me £50. I don't know what they pay in the police, but to me that is alot of money to shell out for nothing in return.

 

[Gully]

The Police are paid a reasonable salary, the reason I know this is that I am looking at a career change and was considering applying to them, as a probationary Constable my salary would be not much different from what it is now after over 20 years in the public sector.

The job they do is difficult so I would say they are worth every penny, did anyone catch the programme last week about the Hampshire Traffic Division. They featured one PC who had to go and inform a family that their young daughter had just been killed in an accident on the M3, not an easy job.

Fair play to the bloke who did it, on the return to the scene he had a go at a couple of people who were dicking around on the roads (using the hard shoulder, talking on a mobile phone). I thought that he was professional and restrained, you could tell that he would have liked to punch someone, given what he had seen and done that morning.

 

[Nibble]

I don't condone threats or violence toward anyone in the public firing line and see it as unacceptable but traffic wardens should be trained in conflict management so that they do not inflame the situation by being sarky or appear not to be listening to the driver,

If a traffic warden is feling threatened rather than carry on issuing the ticket he should be able to note the registration, let the person go and call the police after the drver has left.

Instead they seem to enjoy a stand off and enjoy winding people up. They should be a hell of a lot more professional because whichever way they look at it they are law enforcers and should act accordingly not get into incidents by not even listening to what the driver has to say. Once the ticket is issued you would be very unlikely to get it revoked so it ios hardly a "fair trial".

 

[csider]

Yes they are only doing a job, however, most of them are cu*ts who dont even have a grasp of English. I had a similar situation where I put a note in the window, with a time on it saying I was getting change. I got back within 2 mins and had a ticket because the warden said "we will not wait for you to go home and get CHANGED!! As for not having change on you when parking......it happens, same way as there is not always paper in the bogs!!

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

If the same situation happens again do NOT stand discussing it with the warden, simply get in your car and drive off.

Ticket has to be issued to be valid..i.e on your vehicle, I have done this twice and no reprucussions followed.