'Dudley parking wardens swear and belittle people - I've experienced it myself' says Stourbridge MP
Dudley Council parking wardens swear, belittle people and ignore the rules they enforce, an MP has alleged.
Along with introducing parking charges last year the authority also hired a private contractor to enforce parking rules to boost the number of wardens on borough streets.
At a meeting of Dudley Council on Monday (October 20), Councillor Cat Eccles, who is also MP for Stourbridge, hit out at bad behaviour by enforcement officers in the town.
Councillor Eccles said: “They park illegally themselves, setting a poor example. They often swear and belittle people when they are speaking to them, I have even experienced this myself when they did not realise I was an elected member.
“While they may be contractors, they do still represent this council and should uphold standards.”
After the meeting, Councillor Eccles described an incident she became involved in earlier this year in Stourbridge.
Councillor Eccles said: “There was a dispute between some traders and the warden over the warden parking on double yellow lines on a corner.
“The warden was swearing at the traders, I intervened and received the same poor attitude and bad language – they said they can ‘do what they like’.”
Councillor Eccles added that she and other people have been reporting incidents to the council throughout the year.
In response to Councillor Eccles during the meeting, Councillor Simon Phipps, Dudley cabinet member for economy and infrastructure, said: “It is something that has been brought to my attention, originally when I saw the correspondence I didn’t realise the volume of the incidents and the type of behaviour that had been reported.
“That is something I have asked one of the senior managers in the department to raise with the contractor.
“They should abide by all the relevant rules, there are times where they have to respond to calls where they may need to park on double yellow lines or things like that.
“It is allowed but they should only do that by exception, only when they need to enforce but cannot find anywhere to park to do so.
“The type of incidents that have been raised are not acceptable.”
