Confessions of a Traffic Warden Thurs 19 Nov C4 21.00
Discussion
Smiling, gentle Durga Pokhrel has arrived in London from Nepal, fascinated and enchanted by England, a place he has wanted to visit all his life. He loves English people, even though he doesn't know any, but he is certain they are all "courteous". And English society is surely perfect because "there is no violence in England". But you will need a tourniquet for your broken heart because Durga's soul is destroyed within days when he becomes a "civil enforcement officer". Or - a traffic warden. Olly Lambert's fascinating, shocking and shaming film follows Durga as that ever-present smile slowly starts to slide from his face when he begins work for the company contracted by Westminster City Council in London to issue parking tickets. Durga and his fellow wardens are routinely caught up in hurricanes of frequently racist abuse from aggressive motorists. "Nobody likes to be scolded or called bad names," says Durga in his incongruously elegant English. "I have become very, very sad." He is so disillusioned that you will take it personally.
Radio Times reviewer Alison Graham
This could be interesting
Radio Times reviewer Alison Graham
This could be interesting
Sounds very depressing. The problem lays with the kind of people traffic wardens have to deal with, i.e. inconsiderate gits who don't care about other people (which is why they have parked badly in the first place) but yes it is a shame we have so many of them. It's a bit of a shame Britain can't be more like he wants/thinks it is but that's human nature.
Napal Traffic wardens? they are better known as drug carriers
I doubt they have enough traffic in the busiest Napal streets.
We only have a problem because there are more cars on our City roads than spaces to park them. Now they want us to leave thae car at home and take the bus or tube and they try to encourage this by expensive parking and congestion charges.
I doubt they have enough traffic in the busiest Napal streets.
We only have a problem because there are more cars on our City roads than spaces to park them. Now they want us to leave thae car at home and take the bus or tube and they try to encourage this by expensive parking and congestion charges.
Steve748 said:
Napal Traffic wardens? they are better known as drug carriers
I doubt they have enough traffic in the busiest Napal streets.
We only have a problem because there are more cars on our City roads than spaces to park them. Now they want us to leave thae car at home and take the bus or tube and they try to encourage this by expensive parking and congestion charges.
Kathmandu seemed busy enough to me when I was there...plenty of traffic!I doubt they have enough traffic in the busiest Napal streets.
We only have a problem because there are more cars on our City roads than spaces to park them. Now they want us to leave thae car at home and take the bus or tube and they try to encourage this by expensive parking and congestion charges.
Edited by varsas on Thursday 19th November 20:36
Shaw Tarse said:
I know they have a job to do, but they do seem rather smug!
Playing devil's advocate for a second, I can understand why they are gradually turned into smug, annoying gits. If most interactions you have in your job involve being abused and threatened you would probably start to take pleasure in 'punishing' the people.I do feel for them, if you get paid more for issuing more tickets, officially or unofficially, and you need the money, then your going to issue those tickets. And if you don't park illegally and you pay a parking fee then you won't get a ticket I guess. I'm sure if the film crew had spotted one of them issuing dodgy tickets they would have shown it.
I'm more shocked at how incredibly ignorant some people are, if you wanted to be pissed at a ticket then fair enough but threatening to hunt someone down? Calling someone a "f
king coon"?
Classy.
I'm more shocked at how incredibly ignorant some people are, if you wanted to be pissed at a ticket then fair enough but threatening to hunt someone down? Calling someone a "f
king coon"? Classy.
It was probably quite heavily edited to portray a certain view but you did feel for the blokes having to put up with some of the stuff people came out with. If you spoke to a police officer or someone of a similar position the same way i'm sure there would be consequences, at the end of the day they're trying to make an honest living.
Shaw Tarse said:
sleep envy said:
sly fkers, they deserve all the abuse they get
I know they have a job to do, but they do seem rather smug!kers, they deserve all the abuse they getequally out of order was the abuse they received
MiniMan64 said:
I do feel for them, if you get paid more for issuing more tickets, officially or unofficially, and you need the money, then your going to issue those tickets. And if you don't park illegally and you pay a parking fee then you won't get a ticket I guess. I'm sure if the film crew had spotted one of them issuing dodgy tickets they would have shown it.
I'm more shocked at how incredibly ignorant some people are, if you wanted to be pissed at a ticket then fair enough but threatening to hunt someone down? Calling someone a "fking coon"?
Classy.
The abusive Asian chap made me wonder. He was being blatantly racist and his behaviour was disgusting. However, nothing was done of this? What if it happened to be a white chap who was spouting the racist comments? Would something have been done?I'm more shocked at how incredibly ignorant some people are, if you wanted to be pissed at a ticket then fair enough but threatening to hunt someone down? Calling someone a "f
king coon"? Classy.
Also, the behaviour of people in general towards the wardens was f
king terrible. People were horrible even if they hadn't been ticketed. The bloke with the long hair who said that they were persecuting his family needed a swift smack to the nose. I couldn't believe the way he kept saying 'fking shutup' etc. What a moron.I feel sort of sorry for the wardens after watching this. There have been all of these rules put in place to ban target setting, but they have found ways of getting around this which encourages ticketing. Like people have said above, if you want the overtime to get more money then you will ticket more and be crafty about it.
I think the thing that stood out the most though was the behaviour of the public. They were absolute filth. Some even had a pop at the warden without even parking a car!
Agree with most of the above, behaviour toward the traffic wardens was pretty bad. It's a shame they are being forced into issuing as many tickets as possible, I wasn't aware that was still going on before this programme. couldn't they cut the number of wardens? Each warden would then issue loads more tickets and so wouldn't have to chase numbers so badly to "pay" for themselves...the company could the ease off the pressure.
maybe public opinion would even change if the roads were clogged with parked cars and the spaces were full of people staying all day with zero charge...i'm sure it's a minority who park illegally. IIRC the French wave all parking offences in the run up to the election, predictably Paris is chaos.
maybe public opinion would even change if the roads were clogged with parked cars and the spaces were full of people staying all day with zero charge...i'm sure it's a minority who park illegally. IIRC the French wave all parking offences in the run up to the election, predictably Paris is chaos.
varsas said:
Sounds very depressing. The problem lays with the kind of people traffic wardens have to deal with, i.e. inconsiderate gits who don't care about other people (which is why they have parked badly in the first place) but yes it is a shame we have so many of them. It's a bit of a shame Britain can't be more like he wants/thinks it is but that's human nature.
Sorry but I can't let this go unchallenged.Back in 1997 (I think) our Golf Cabriolet 'developed' two punctures (I wasn't driving) and became disabled at the roadside in Curzon Street, Mayfair (within Westminster, for those who don't know).
While we were waiting for a tyre truck along came plod. They sympathised with our situation and left us a note to display in the car while we went for a coffee, to the effect that PCs XXXX were aware the car was broken down and it should not be ticketed.
Upon our return, some a
hole traffic warden had ignored the note and ticketed the car. There then followed months of trouble before we eventually got the ticket cancelled. Why did the tool feel the need to ticket a clearly damaged, and noted BY THE POLICE as such?I didn't see the programme but traffic wardens really are the scum of the earth.
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