A London council has been secretly recorded pressuring parking wardens to issue a set number of tickets each day or face disciplinary action.
Audio recordings passed to The Standard detail wardens working for Ealing council being told they need to issue “10 or 11” tickets per eight-hour shift.
Failure to do so will result in the wardens – employed by the Labour council’s in-house contractor, Greener Ealing Ltd (GEL) – being spoken to about “low performance”, according to several recordings.
The Traffic Management Act prohibits councils from setting targets for tickets – also known as PCNs or penalty charge notices – or revenue from parking enforcement.
After being approached by The Standard, Ealing said it “does not set PCN targets” but used the rate of tickets issued each hour as a “performance measure”.
But Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, which raised the concerns with The Standard, accused the council of “ripping off residents” over parking and putting the wardens in danger, by pressurising them to issue tickets while working alone at night in a bid to hit the expected rates.
She said: “Pressuring workers to issue tickets even when there are none to issue is a surefire way to increase the abuse and assaults these workers face on a regular basis.
“This is exactly why the council needs to recognise their union so they can be properly represented.”
One video posted on TikTok appeared to show what happens when a warden decided to ticket multiple vehicles on a street in Southall, which is within Ealing borough.
@ub1ub2media This is wild 😭😭 (via @pawelawesomazable) #UB1UB2 #London #Southall
♬ original sound - UB1UB2
Fines in Ealing range between £80 and £130 depending on the location and type of traffic offence.
In one recording passed to The Standard, a manager can be heard at a staff presentation referring to the need to check the “quality” of PCNs – such as the photograph taken of the vehicle in the offending location, and the notes taken by the warden at the time.
The manager then mentions that the “ratio” of parking tickets issued per hour will also be checked, saying: “I think it is 1.2 to 1.3 per hour”.
He then clarifies with a colleague that the expected ticketing rate is “1.27 per hour”.
The manager, who was speaking last July, explains to the wardens: “For eight hours, it will come to probably 10 or 11 PCNs minimum… it is GEL policy.”
In another recording, from last November, a manager is heard castigating a warden for “very poor performance on a particular day”.
The warden becomes increasingly distressed and protests: “I was going to the streets but I did not see anything in contravention.”
The warden points out that most parking zones have restrictions that end at 5pm.
He says that he cannot drive inside certain zones after 7pm in a marked car, which advertises the fact it is using ANPR technology, for “health and safety reasons” because he is a lone worker – suggesting he would be at risk of being attacked if he is spotted issuing tickets.
In a third recording, also from November, a manager can be heard telling a warden that he has been called to a meeting as a “clarification or reiteration of expected standards”.
The manager complains that the warden had worked from 7.30am to 4.30pm on a moped but had only issued seven PCNs – the last one at 11.19am.
“From 11.19am until the end of shift, nothing was done. This has raised a red flag,” he tells the warden.
“Basically, in four hours, nothing was done. I’ve subtracted one hour for your lunch. But in Ealing a moped [warden] can’t be riding for four hours and see nothing.
“Yesterday, I went on the streets and I issued 11 tickets in just one hour. Are you saying that in four hours you didn’t see anything?”
He accuses the warden of gross misconduct for “falsification of a pocket book”, based on GPRS evidence of his location when logging streets on a hand-held device.
Seeking to defend himself, the warden replies: “I was desperately trying [ to issue tickets] but they [the drivers] all moved and somebody paid.”
The manager tells him: “Serco [the previous contractor] wasn’t investigating these things but GEL is investigating. You are being paid for eight hours’ work.
“If they are paying you for eight hours’ work, they expect eight hours’ work from you. Don’t come and do three hours’ work and relax for the rest of the day.”
The manager added: “In an eight-hour shift, to not fall into low performance, you have to issue like 12 tickets. Anything under that, you are going to end up in low performance.”
Ealing issued 95,094 parking tickets in 2023/24, according to data collated by London Councils. Across London, more than 4.5m parking tickets were issued by the 33 boroughs and Transport for London.
The Standard has previously reported that the number of tickets issued in Ealing doubled between 2022 and 2023, resulting in its income from parking offences soaring by £2.6m. At the time, the council said this was because of better technology.
A spokesperson for Ealing council said: “Parking services, including the issuing of penalty charge notices (PCNs), have been managed by the council's in-house provider, Greener Ealing Ltd (GEL) since April 2024.
“The council does not set PCN targets as part of its contract with GEL. Instead, the number of PCNS issued per hour is used as one of several performance measures, reflecting the varying compliance levels across the borough.
“The council is committed to supporting the wellbeing of staff and ensuring a balanced approach to performance and service delivery.”
Unite is currently in dispute with the council over its refusal to recognise the wardens as a distinct bargaining unit for industrial relations purposes,
Unite believes that if there was a recognition agreement the problems with the targets and pressure to issue tickets would be resolved because the workers would have a voice to raise concerns when major issues emerge.
