Attacks on visitors wardens on the rise with workers even URINATED on

Parking wardens across the country are being attacked by angry motorists with frightening regularity with some unfortunate inspectors being doused in urine, pelted with eggs or shot at with paintball guns whilst trying to do their jobs. 

Since being introduced in the 1960s, parting wardens have been widely maligned by motorists who often view their costly infractions as opportunistic money making by their local councils. 

However, despite fulfilling a vital role in keeping Britain’s transport infrastructure running smoothly, attacks on wardens are now frighteningly high. 

Shocking FOI data obtained by the Telegraph has revealed that 660 wardens were attacked while performing their duties in the year 2022-23 – a year in which local authorities collected £962 million in tickets.  

Local councils claim their officers were beaten, driven at, threatened with knives, shot at with BB guns, strangled, kicked and assaulted with traffic cones. 

In Reading, after punching a warden three times in a face, one motorist pulled a knife and threatened the officer. 

In Oldham, an inspector was first beaten and then dragged down the road and kicked by a driver. 

Last year in Croydon, a warden’s leg was broken after he as beaten by a mob who then stole his ticketing machine. 

Disturbingly, many assaults on wardens have taken place in broad daylight and been filmed by members of the public who haven’t intervened. 

Last year in Manor Park, east London, a traffic warden was left with a broken finger after being set upon by a furious driver. 

After taking photos of the man’s van, the enraged driver, who is dressed in hi-vis, grabs a wooden pole and starts attacking the officer, smacking him twice before the stick snaps. 

The traffic warden is then seen punching the man to the floor before the fight is broken up by a third man. 

Police said the warden suffered a broken finger and the other man was arrested. 

In another video, shot in 2016, a warden seems visibly distressed as he is filmed by a passerby during a parking conflict. 

The driver of the car informs the warden that he will be put on YouTube for what he did which distresses the warden, who informs he will ‘sue him’ before making a move to remove the camera from his face. 

Last year, Coventry City Council recorded a terrifying incident where two wardens were shoved by an angry motorists who then threw a bin at them and aggressively rammed it with his car. 

The foul-mouthed motorist was caught on body camera confronting two council officials in Coventry in what has been branded an ‘unacceptable’ assault. 

The fuming man was illegally parked and was left outraged after being issued a parking ticket when he launched into his vile verbal tirade.

After being told ‘it’s alright, you’re being recorded mate’ the fuming driver then storms over to one of the council workers and aggressively shoves him.

The driver tells the warden: ‘I don’t give a ****, ****ing record me you fat ****.’

When the warden replies ‘do you want the police on you?’, the man shouts back ‘do it, *****ing do it.’

The warden then radios for help as video footage appears to catch the driver getting into his car and accelerating past the warden, narrowly missing both officers as they scramble out of the way. 

The incident, which took place in 2023, was investigated by West Midlands Police which arrested the man, who was later convicted of assault in October of that year and sentenced to a community order. 

Coventry City Council said aggressive incidents, including staff being punched, kicked and spat at, had doubled in the past four years. 

In another video shot in the city, a traffic warden was physically attacked by a furious motorist for ticketing his illegally parked van. 

The civil enforcement officer was hurled to the ground after he slapped the motorist with a penalty charge while patrolling in the Foleshill area of Coventry.

The driver immediately leaves the van after seeing the ticket placed on his windscreen and angrily tells the officer: ‘I was moving mate’, before pushing him in the chest. 

The video recorded on the warden’s body camera captures him crying out ‘did you see that?’ as he is shoved to the pavement during the confrontation. 

His colleague then tries to intervene and is also verbally and physically assaulted during the heated dispute on Victory Road in June last year. 

In Birmingham last year, shocking footage emerged of a parking warden being kneed in the face by a thug. 

The disturbing video was filmed in Stratford Road in the Sparkhill area of the city. 

One traffic warden can be seen being kneed in the face while another has punches thrown at him in the middle of the busy street.

Onlookers said the thugs struck after claiming the civil enforcement officers had ‘no power any more’ following the revelation that the city council had gone bankrupt. 

One witness said: ‘These guys were just doing their jobs and obviously have nothing to do with what’s going on at the council. They were saying they had no power any more around here and several idiots tried to drive them out of the area using the bankruptcy stuff as an excuse.

‘It does make you worry what’s going through these people’s heads. They haven’t got a clue and I fear things could escalate.

‘It’s like they believe the authorities have no power over them any more. What is attacking traffic wardens going to achieve anyway? It’s just moronic behaviour and it took place in broad daylight in front of families with children.’

In 2017, violent thug Daniel Corneill was jailed for two years after breaking a traffic warden’s shoulder during a vicious brawl. 

Corneille, who has 55 previous convictions and was once jailed for five-and-a-half years for stabbing a man, told the court he had been having an ‘exceptionally bad day’ when he attacked Gareth Lawrence.

The 47-year-old was angry after being given a ticket for parking his Ford Focus on double yellow lines in Sheerness High Street, Kent, on January 6. 

Corneille was said to be blocking a tactile paving designed to assist the blind with his car when he received a ticket.

Upon leaving a nearby pub, Corneille, who runs a roofing business, shouted ‘l’ll smack your f***ing head in, alright fat boy, alright fat boy’ at Mr Lawrence.

He then shoved the traffic warden in the back with two hands using his ‘full force’, which was captured on both CCTV and by Mr Lawrence’s body-worn camera.

Mr Lawrence had already placed the ticket on Corneille’s car, which was at around 4pm. 

But before he had a chance to turn around he felt a hard push on his back and shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.

He was unable to cushion his impact as his hands were by his face, taking a picture of Corneille’s car, prosecutor Dominic Connolly said. 

The father-of-two was then shoved a second time into an Indian restaurant window, which injured his shoulder and damaged his glasses.

Corneille then stood over the traffic warden and placed his hands around his head and neck before then pushing him to the ground again.

The 47-year-old, who had been in the pub with his girlfriend, then drove away from the scene. He was arrested a week later.

Following the attack, Mr Lawrence was left in excruciating pain and could not pull himself up from the pavement.

He was unable to drive or work for six weeks and had to rely on his wife to perform basic tasks for him, including washing and dressing him, as well as cutting up his food. 

In 2014, a traffic warden was left fighting for his life in hospital after he was savagely beaten by a driver because he gave the man a parking ticket.

The warden, who was in his 40s, was hit over the head with a piece of wood in Bounds Green, north London. 

Police say they arrested a 29-year-old man on suspicion of GBH half an hour after the attack, while the victim remains in a ‘serious but stable’ condition.

An anonymous source who spoke to the Evening Standard at the time said: ‘I broke them up but the warden continued to fight as well. At one point the warden picked up the man and threw him.

‘At another stage the warden was on the ground and the man was repeatedly punching him in the face. It was really sickening. He is lucky to be alive.’