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WARDEN IN STAB DRAMA

Blade goes straight through hand in horror attack


The horrific stabbing could have killed the warden
A TRAFFIC warden on his rounds escaped death or serious injury yesterday morning (Thursday) when he parried a knife aimed for his chest.
The 40-year-old Westminster Council parking attendant, employed by contractors NCP, was working in the Ladbrook Grove area when two motorcyclists drove up and began to verbally abuse him.
One then came towards him with a knife and aimed to stab him in the chest. The 40-year-old parking warden raised his hands to defend himself and the knife went straight through the palm of his left hand.
His attackers fled and horrified onlookers called the police and an ambulance. He is now in hospital recovering.
Union chiefs have accused Westminster Council of managing an aggressive parking policy which puts wardens at risk.
But a spokesman said that there had recently been a reduction in the numbers of attacks on wardens.
He claimed until recently the council had at least one ‘code red’ – a serious incident – occurred everyday.
Wardens were especially vulnerable when Westminster Council was pursuing an unpopular and extremely vigorous ticketing policy with deliveries, taxi drivers and even milk men being slapped with tickets.
But following a ferocious backlash from shops and traders, Westminster Council has launched a series of measures to improve its parking regime and according to figures just published just 15 ‘code reds’ took place in September.
A Westminster press official said: “We have recently seen an improvement but this just shows how dangerous the job is.”
But Rahul Patel, the head of Unison at Westminster Council, blamed the vulnerability of traffic wardens on council policy.
He said: “They are extremely vulnerable and what doesn’t help is the constant pushing by management to hand out as many tickets as possible. Our members are constantly being disciplined for not giving enough, so they are forced to take risks.”
He added: “We know that Westminster Council is losing money hand over fist in its parking revenue, up to £12 million.
“Obviously we have to have traffic wardens, but at the heart is the issue that it is being used to get revenue from motorists.”
Councillor Colin Barrow, the deputy leader of Westminster Council, said: “This is clearly a frightening and completely unacceptable attack on a parking attendant who was simply going about his every day work.
“The matter of parking attendant safety we take very seriously indeed and we will do all we can to help the police identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for this attack.”



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