A NORTH Oxford businessman has complained after parking attendants pulled up on the pavement and remained on double yellow lines while ticketing a vehicle.

Robin Swailes photographed the attendants in Cardigan Street, Jericho, on Monday and said they were parked on yellow lines for 10 minutes.

It is the second time he has snapped an attendant after one parked on double yellow lines to give him a ticket when he was parked illegally in Jericho in May last year.

The father-of-four, who runs North Oxford Property Services, said two parking attendants were “prowling the streets of Oxford each night, breaking the law and highway code to issue parking tickets to residents who arrive home from work late and find it difficult to park in Oxford”.

But county council managers insisted parking attendants were legally entitled to park on yellow lines while they worked.

Mr Swailes, 42, added: “I realised that it was unlikely to be police officers as they would not draw attention to themselves by parking off the Queen’s highway on to the pavement.

“The two traffic wardens sat in the car, half on the pavement for about 10 minutes before one left the vehicle to issue a ticket.

“The car ticketed was waiting for a space in the free parking area that had been vacated a few minutes earlier.

“I believe it to be a waste of time and resources for two traffic wardens to be travelling in a car together.

“I also find it extravagant that they are issued with company cars to undertake a job that could be achieved in a much more environmentally-friendly way, by walking the streets or riding a bicycle.

“The further fact that they can flout the law and park on the pavement while issuing a ticket is a travesty of justice.”

Mr Swailes called on parking attendants to walk the streets instead of using cars and give drivers advice on parking.

He added: “At the moment, people are being penalised for working late because there aren’t enough spaces for everyone.

“There is no need for the traffic wardens to behave in such a predatory fashion and generating revenue should not be their prime concern.”

Owen Morton, a spokesman for the county council, said parking attendants were legally entitled to park on yellow lines while doing their work, under exceptions to the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act.

He added: “It is these exceptions that are written in to the Traffic Regulation Order to allow parking attendants to park on yellow lines.

“The county council is no different from other highway authorities across the country in doing this.”

Since changes in the law in 1999, the council is responsible for enforcing on-street parking.

In 2006/2007, 61,957 fines — or 169 a day — were issued in Oxford, netting the authority £1.2m.

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