A council has branded a barber a safety risk after he warned motorists about traffic wardens – using a megaphone.
Public-spirited Andy Blackwell, 51, has been ordered to stop his daily “traffic warden alert system” by Cornwall Council.
Hairdresser Andy would regularly sounded a siren though a megaphone out his shop door whenever he saw a car about to be ticketed.
But council officials failed to see the funny side and have told him he has been added to a “cautionary contacts list” of locals deemed a security risk.
He was told he would remain in its files for a year for “verbally abusing” two wardens who confronted him over the cheeky protest and suffered “extreme distress”.
Andy, who runs a shop in Liskeard, Cornwall, said: ”I never threatened, or cursed or swore. As far as I was concerned I was doing a public service.
“I decided to warn people that traffic wardens were in the area so they had a fair chance of moving their cars. It’s a little bit of fun and people have thanked me.”
A council statement said: “The cautionary contacts list is an internal system which aims to protect council staff from potentially harmful situations, including physical assault and verbal abuse.
“Many local authorities around the country have similar schemes in place.
”This information is only used within the council and is only available to those employees who may potentially be exposed to such risks.”
Well Done Andy. It’s about time that the lunatic antics of some parking wardens are exposed.
You are probably also right with your analysis of why the wander around aimlessly in pairs. Perhaps it does need one of them to do the reading and the other to do the writing !
In reality, the public do need protection from these people and their faceless masters. Let us be brutaly honest about it, most of them do seem to be a sandwich short of a picnic.
All the best,
Bernie
Thanks for your support. Freedom of Speech, our forefathers died for this. Need I say more? Cheers Andy