h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Traffic wardens are without doubt the most pigheaded verminous scum that have ever dared to grace our planet.

I cannot imagine why anyone of sound mind would ever choose to take the job. They obviously enjoy inflicting pain and misery upon others.

(I've just got a ticket today. Thirty pounds to go into a shop for twenty minutes and just look at a couple of books. Thirty pounds. Oh, and the 60 pence for the meter. I just didn't notice the sign beside my particular bay stating "Solo M/Cs". And when I got back, there was a notice on my windscreen fining me 30 of my precious earned credits. I work my arse off to get money. And what happens? Some eagle eyed petty minded little scrote slaps a fine on me. It's not like the government don't already get enough money from my road tax, MOT, insurance, The ridiculous cost of petrol, my income tax, my national insurance, the rates, VAT on almost everything I buy.. the list goes on.)

I am a traffic warden!! I am kind, caring and certainly not the things you describe!! We are doing a very thankless job like many others out there and if you want to break the law by parking illegally then you pay the price!! I have walked my beat for 11 years and been called many unrepeatable names, spat at and driven at but its just a job and the majority of people out there do appreciate what we do. I do my job because I love working outdoors and enjoy not having a boss breathing down my neck. I love helping out people and chatting to them and when we meet horrible people like you we always have a laugh about it, because we are still human beings with a brain and emotions. So next time you meet a traffic warden try saying hello and being polite as manners cost nothing but are frequently seen!!

I do not deny that I was completely in the wrong for parking in a "solo M/Cs" area. I honestly didn't see it. But in Edinburgh the Parking wardens are quite the most evil men in the entire planet.

The following have happened to people i know:

(1): Parked. Went to pay and display meter. Waiting in queue. Returned to car, only to find a warden writing out a ticket. Protested in a civilised manner, but got a "bad look" from the heartless fiend.

(2): Parked, shopped. Returned to find a ticket because their wheel was 2 inches (and I repeat, just two inches!) over the white line.

I think that you must be mad to even think of taking a job where you inflict so much hurt upon other human beings. You claim to have a nice time talking to people. I don't know where you're from or what the people are like there, but I've never seen anyone greet a warden (and they're everywhere. Like wasps) with even a hint of respect. Their uniform is a sign of unwanted arrogance and cruelty.

It's a thankless job and rightfully so. I mean, there are people who illegally park and deserve to be fined, but in most cases it's a situation of ignorance of the restrictions. Most people who have had a ticket (that I know of) weren't in anyone's way, or causing any obstruction.

It's just a money-making scam from the government. I pay far too much tax as it is, and I don't see why they should steal even more money from a stupid mistake I made.

It's not as if I was hurtling down a 30mph road at 80, posing a real threat to the public. I think that Speeding tickets are a good idea.
I'm in favour of the police and the law in general.

But parking wardens are just malicious.

Just to put the record straight. The parking wardens you are referring to are totally different to a police traffic warden.
Parking wardens are employed by the local councils and are payed on a commission basis so therefore they will slap tickets on anyone. They give us old fashioned traffic wardens a bad name!
Police traffic wardens do not work in parking zones like you are referring to. Their main priority is to keep the freeflow of traffic and to issue tickets as a last resort. We work very closely with the police and are often the first ones to come across accidents etc. I am sorry if you have had a bad experience but please dont tar everyone with the same brush!! All the recent programmes on TV about parking etc were about the council wardens and it gave us genuine wardens a bad name. At the end of the day the law is the law, we do not make the rules we only enforce them.

Mmmm... interesting.

Please, tell me more about the differences.

For example, do you only work in rural areas? Or city areas outside the pay-park zones?
How often and how varied is your patrol?

Parking wardens are employed by the local councils and are payed on a commission basis so therefore they will.

So someone wrote. They have never done the job, I was never PAID(HINT) commission in all the time I was a Traffic Warden.
They are not (well if they are where's mine) paid commission.

Have a brain, unlike the idiots who park on yellow lines, some even have fathers, who (Careful now) who married their mothers before they were born.