Parking wardens sacked for 'revenge'

Ten parking wardens have been sacked after they were discovered to have issued 6,000 bogus tickets to try to gain revenge against drivers who had abused them.

Ten parking wardens have been sacked after they were discovered to have issued 6,000 bogus tickets to try to gain revenge against drivers who had abused them.

Westminster City Council said yesterday that the parking attendants were dismissedfor falsifying entries in their notebooks and issuing fake tickets to "get their own back" and boost their "success" rate on the streets.

An eleventh warden resigned rather than face investigation. A council spokesman said: "The parking attendants involved may face criminal charges, although we really don't know at this stage."

The group, all employed by a sub-contractor, APCOA Parking UK Ltd, were caught in an investigation run by the Parking Client Unit.

A report to Westminster's transport and highways committee reads: "It is clear that some parking attendants are tempted to issue fraudulent penalty charge notices to try and demonstrate their 'success', or to get their own back on a driver who has abused them.

"There is no doubt that a minority of the parking attendants employed by APCOA were issuing fraudulent penalty charge notices and falsifying their pocket books."

Complaints from mini-cab drivers claiming to have been wrongly ticketed prompted council officers to investigate.