Camden’s parking wardens want a £2 an hour pay increase

MORE than 100 traffic wardens are set to launch an eight-week strike causing a parking free-for-all on Camden roads.

Union chiefs are demanding a £2 an hour pay increase for members working for Camden’s contractor, NSL.

Last time the wardens – known as civil enforcement officers – struck in 2023 it lost the council more than £1.5million due to thousands of tickets not being issued and fines not being processed.

Marston Holdings, which owns NSL and has a 10-year contract worth £100m with Camden Council, was served notice of the strike that starts on Monday. It comes after a bumper year for the Town Hall from parking fines – with 22 per cent more penalty notices issued on the previous year.

Unison secretary Liz Wheatley said: “The council lose money because tickets aren’t issued. And all the tickets that come about through the CCTV have to be manually checked within a certain time period to make sure they are accurate. If our members are on strike hardly any tickets are issued, and hardly any tickets are checked.”

“Something that is worth highlighting with this is that it is the council that still has to pay NSL. That’s the shocking thing about privatised services, the only people who don’t lose out are the private company.”

She added: “The way to stop having regular disputes is to the bring the service in-house.”

The New Journal reported on a significant victory for Camden Unison in 2023 when NSL caved in to demands after a 59-day strike across the borough.

Because the service is outsourced, the union has to negotiate with the contractor that is paid by Camden to pay staff wages and employee costs.

The wardens are currently on around £16.50 an hour, with salaries of around £38,000 a year for a 42-hour week.

The workforce is majority black and minority ethnic and in the last dispute they spoke to the New Journal about how they regularly face racism and physical abuse – including being spat on.

Ms Wheatley said the demands this time included an increase in holiday allocation from 20 days to the 27 enjoyed by council workers. They are also asking for sick pay changes – again to bring them in line with council employment contracts. Camden signed a four-year extension to its contract with NSL in January, running up to 2030.

A report about the deal said that the last contract generated “£20.8m in income for the financial year 24/25 and also supported the securing of an additional £28.2m in revenue from short-term parking, permits and bay suspensions during the same period”.

It added that Marston Holdings – which sends bailiffs to collects unpaid debts and enforces court orders for more than 500 clients – had reported “substantial increases in operational costs” and would need to add 545 hours to its deployments and bring in more enforcement vehicles and video equipment.

The contract over the 10 years has been increased by 15.66 per cent, to £100m, due to the these factors but the council said the extra costs would be met through the rise in “income” from the fines.

Picket lines will be in force from 7-10am outside the NSL traffic warden offices in Regis Road in Kentish Town, Guilford Street in Bloomsbury, Belsize Road in Kilburn.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “We continue to support both parties, urge them to come to an agreement and to resolve this dispute as swiftly as possible.”

Marston Holdings was approached for comment and declined to comment a month ago.