500 ASSAULTS ON TRAFFIC WARDENS

HUNDREDS of traffic wardens have been attacked on the job by angry drivers over the past year.

There were almost 500 incidents where wardens were physically assaulted and another 274 where they were subjected to verbal abuse and threats.

Some even needed hospital treatment for their injuries.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said: “Parking enforcement keeps road users safe. Nobody should have to go about their job and be subjected to violence or abuse.

“Councils take a zero-tolerance approach and any such matters would be reported to the police so perpetrators can be brought to justice.”

Councils revealed staff were driven into, headbutted, spat at, threatened with death and punched in the face.

All the attacks, which took place in the last financial year, were disclosed after a

Freedom of Information councils around the UK.

The news comes just weeks after Alex Owers, 40, of Hull, east Yorks, was jailed for 23 months after he forced a warden to eat the ticket he had just issued him with.

Among assaults uncovered in the survey were 25 reported by Kirklees Council against its wardens, including three pelted with stones, one subjected to racist survey of abuse, two hit by moving cars and one who was bitten by a dog. Havering Council in London said it had four cases last year where wardens were subjected to racist abuse while on the streets. In each of the incidents, bodycam footage was handed to police. And officials in Wigan, Lancs, had a case where a warden was threatened with murder by an angry driver.