TRAFFIC WARDEN SCHOOL

It's 9am and in a bleak, sterile training room in north London and traffic warden C1265 is reporting for duty. "That's your number," trainer Lateef Aileru barks at me as I take my seat among 15 others hopefuls destined to inflict misery on the motoring public. The walls around me are covered with parking meters and pay-and-display machines, constant reminders of the perils of parking today. More than five million tickets were slapped on cars last year, a rise of 14%, and today an ever-growing army of traffic wardens is scattering penalty charge notices around like confetti. On the first of two days spent undercover as a trainee parking attendant with private firm Apcoa in Camden, I listen to attendants who take pride in issuing as many fines as possible and boast about "trophy" tickets, the celebrity car.

One trainer gloats about towing away Arsenal footballer Thierry Henry's car. "When I put on the uniform I'm a different man," says Mr Aileru. "I'll clamp you, tow you away, I don't care if your mother's dying in hospital. I've had people on their knees begging me, saying they haven't got any money and they can't afford to pay. I don't care, my colleague will tell you that." He points at another trainer. "He gave his wife a ticket and then had to pay it himself. I hate motorists. They deserve parking tickets they are so lazy." Unfortunately for drivers, most local authorities seem to agree.

Almost 100 now employ private contractors to enforce parking regulations. New legislation looks set to give wardens the additional power to fine motorists up to £100 for minor traffic offences, such as stopping inside a yellow box junction. The prospect clearly fills Mr Aileru with nostalgia for the days he spent slapping notices on cars. "I haven't been on the streets since becoming a trainer," he says, his eyes almost moistening with emotion. "But these new laws are enough to make me get back out there." It's hard to share his enthusiasm. Parking attendants, he tells us, are expected to walk up to 20 miles a day, five days a week, carrying a 5kg pack for just £750 a month after tax.

He claims staff are also effectively penalised for taking a day off sick by losing an hourly "bonus" of 91p for completing a full week's work. Mr Aileru warns us Apcoa know how many tickets each beat yields in an eight-hour shift and that we must keep a log of everything we do, including toilet stops. The military-style operation reveals what many motorists have suspected for years - parking tickets are a huge source of income for councils, and for the company. I risk Mr Aileru's wrath by asking if he has ever regretted being a warden. He thinks momentarily and recalls, "There was one time I questioned why I was doing this job. That was after I gave this woman a ticket and her son was dying in hospital. She didn't get angry but just turned around and started talking to herself about her dying son. I almost didn't give her a ticket, but she did wrong and the rules are rules."

Like most contracts between the private firms who enforce parking regulations and local authorities, Apcoa has targets set by Camden Council. If it exceeds those, bosses are paid a higher proportion of ticket revenues. Between July and September in Camden the guideline was 54,637 tickets. The amount they yielded was 61,615. We stop for lunch and spend a depressing hour sitting on tatty chairs in the common room, watching day-time television. Attendants who have finished their shifts on frozen streets outside shuffle by. I stop one and ask what it is like to work here. He tells me not to bother to try to get a job. "There is an atmosphere of real insecurity," he says. "Most of the staff work 70 hours a week just to make up a decent wage."

On the wall of the common room are two notice boards. Among official warnings about pay is a letter which reminds us just how much fury parking attendants can provoke. It's addressed to the managing director of a scaffolding company and warns him of legal action against one of his employees for allegedly punching an Apcoa parking attendant. After lunch we are taken through "beat-patterns", the section of streets we will be assigned to patrol. "Our contract with the council dictates we have to visit a certain area a certain number of times a day," says a trainer. "Some wardens cover their beat and then around 4pm rush to Camden High Street to get as many tickets as they can."

We learn the 25 penalty charge notice codes used by Apcoa. Code 24, incorrect parking, is extreme. "If a car is parked more than 50cm from the kerb it is incorrectly parked. That carries a fine of up to £100. "Isn't that a bit harsh?" I dare to suggest. The trainer replies, "We don't make the rules, we enforce them, and if a driver breaks them they must suffer the consequence." And will go on suffering them... (Source: Daily Mirror)