In Praise of Parking Attendants
The Guardian
The Leader
24th June 06
The pages of yesterday's newspapers reverberated in two directions: demands for tougher crackdowns on crime followed by complaints about overzealous parking enforcement. Attitudes to breaking the law, it seems, depends on the law being broken - a moral relativism that is usually not looked upon so kindly by those on the right.
The parking furore followed the parliamentary transport committee's report on the confused and arbitrary nature of council parking policies.
Yet they are a legitimate and necessary part of modern urban transport policy and traffic control, while unchecked illegal parking can cause costly disruption.
That is little comfort, though, to anyone who has received a fine after a brief dash into a school or shop - and who feels resentful to the official issuing the penalty notice. But parking attendants are people too. The MPs' report noted that assaults on parking attendants are exacerbated by media coverage making them into hate figures.
The British Parking Association points out that attendants are "generally poorly paid in poor conditions", often earning around £5 an hour. The simple solution is to pay them more, train them better and allow them some discretion in issuing tickets.
A pilot scheme run by Manchester city council, empowering attendants and giving them some choice in borderline cases, saw appeals against fines drop by 30% and an increase in job satisfaction - a happy outcome for both attendants and drivers.
The Leader
24th June 06
The pages of yesterday's newspapers reverberated in two directions: demands for tougher crackdowns on crime followed by complaints about overzealous parking enforcement. Attitudes to breaking the law, it seems, depends on the law being broken - a moral relativism that is usually not looked upon so kindly by those on the right.
The parking furore followed the parliamentary transport committee's report on the confused and arbitrary nature of council parking policies.
Yet they are a legitimate and necessary part of modern urban transport policy and traffic control, while unchecked illegal parking can cause costly disruption.
That is little comfort, though, to anyone who has received a fine after a brief dash into a school or shop - and who feels resentful to the official issuing the penalty notice. But parking attendants are people too. The MPs' report noted that assaults on parking attendants are exacerbated by media coverage making them into hate figures.
The British Parking Association points out that attendants are "generally poorly paid in poor conditions", often earning around £5 an hour. The simple solution is to pay them more, train them better and allow them some discretion in issuing tickets.
A pilot scheme run by Manchester city council, empowering attendants and giving them some choice in borderline cases, saw appeals against fines drop by 30% and an increase in job satisfaction - a happy outcome for both attendants and drivers.
posted by Neil Herron at 10:05 AM
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