Parking wardens ordered to calm down

Parking attendants have been told to ease up on motorists after claims of overzealous enforcement.

Camden is ripping up its parking contract and handing fresh orders to NCP instead.

The parking control giant has been told to dramatically lower the number of unfair tickets issued to drivers - and to boost the quality of enforcement across the borough.

It also has orders to increase attendants' pay by more than a quarter and to improve conditions to raise morale.

The U-turn follows a similar retreat by Westminster in May. Today Camden admitted the council had focused too heavily on the quantity of penalties issued to motorists.

John Thane, Executive Member for Environment, said there had been too little consideration of "quality".

The £7-million-a-year contract begins in April and runs for five years. But to win a "substantial" bonus NCP will have to meet tough new key performance indicators, said Mr Thane.

The firm will be judged on its level of staff training, with the borough's 240 attendants sent on two weeks of classroom and four weeks "on-thejob" tuition before being allowed to issue tickets on their own.

NCP will also be judged on the number of complaints from motorists that are upheld by independent adjudicators.