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Just the ticket

12 August 2010

From yellow lines to red routes and all things in between: we look at 50 years of police traffic wardens

As the 50th anniversary of traffic wardens approaches this month, Martin and other PCS members have been looking back over the years at downsizing, their changing role and some of the main workplace challenges and improvements.

“The biggest change of all took place when the Road Traffic Act 1991 was introduced. This gave local authorities the power to enforce their own on-street parking when parking regulations were decriminalised,” says Martin.

“Eventually all London councils took on the responsibility of enforcing their own regulations. That’s when they introduced parking attendants, who were either employed by contractors or by the council.”

This shift of responsibility led to considerable reductions in the service; London is now the only location in the UK that still employs police traffic wardens. It also meant that police traffic wardens no longer enforced yellow line or on-street parking rules, such as resident bays and parking meters. Instead, they looked after ‘red routes’, which were controlled by the police; today they continue to enforce them on behalf of Transport for London, the body responsible for the capital’s transport system, which took over control of red routes some six years ago.

“When I joined the service in 1989, there were 1,800 police traffic wardens in London; now there are only 263 left,” explains Martin Mackinnon, a traffic warden manager and PCS traffic warden assistant group secretary.

Police traffic wardens, who remain employees of the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police District, were also given powers to issue fixed penalty notices and authorise vehicle clamping and removal in cases of traffic offences. These include parking on areas near zebra or pelican crossings or causing an obstruction. In addition they attend road traffic accidents, monitor road works carried out by utility companies and patrol major events.

Lower pay, poorer conditions

These days, police traffic wardens’ wages and conditions are under attack, for example, there are attempts to abolish the extra pay they are entitled to for shift and weekend working. Thanks to PCS, these have not succeeded. The union has also agreed a three-year pay deal, which means there will be a pay rise this year. Another challenge for PCS is the proposed closure of units where traffic wardens are based, which could see many relocated elsewhere.

Sydney Tombleson is an area traffic manager who manages four bases in South London. He started as a traffic warden 34 years ago and sees downsizing as one of the key changes over the years. “Traffic wardens have concerns about their long-term future job security. When we first started, we were struggling to recruit up to strength and staff retention was a problem. Now that’s not the case,” he says.

But he believes that PCS has not only improved pay and conditions, but also the way that traffic wardens are seen. “When I first joined, the job had a stigma attached to it. But we have managed to change the image of traffic wardens as providing a professional service.”

Margaret Leonard, another traffic warden manager, joined the service in 1976. She has found that her work concentrates less on supporting the police than it did in the early years. “Back then we contributed much more to police work, for example, when we patrolled key events, such as Trooping the Colour. We still do that, but not as much.”
She agrees that the job is no longer secure but enjoys working with people and meeting the public.

A traffic warden for the past 15 years, Maria Thomas, says: “I’m lucky, that terms and conditions were in place when I got the job. And PCS has won us the pay deal. The union’s done well.”

Maria regularly travels on London buses along red routes, hopping off to deal with obstructions along the way or reporting traffic offences en route. She says: “Elderly people like you being on the buses. I’m a chatty person, I like getting out there and I enjoy my job.”