Police parking wardens in Lincolnshire are axed

All parking warden posts in Lincolnshire are to be scrapped.

Lincolnshire Police, which runs the service, has issued redundancy notices to five wardens, with the sixth taking compulsory retirement.

The force denied this would lead to a parking free-for-all, as officers and PCSOs could also issue tickets.

The county council confirmed it was looking to take over the service but warned this would take some time to complete.

Many forces in England have handed over responsibility for parking enforcement to local councils but for some time police in Lincolnshire have been unable to get an agreement from all authorities to do this.

Budget cuts

Ch Insp Mark Housley said: "Police officers are able to enforce traffic law and parking restrictions and in 2009 the Chief Constable granted PCSOs additional powers to deal with parking issues.

"They have been successfully dealing with these issues in our communities across Lincolnshire since then.

"As parking enforcement is now the responsibility of local authorities, we are working with them to ensure that civil parking enforcement is introduced as soon as possible."

Brian Thompson, county council divisional highways manager, said: "The authority is currently carrying out a financial revaluation to ensure there is best value for taxpayers, which will be followed by a statutory consultation, making sure all views are taken into account.

"It's then intended to make an application to the Department for Transport to assume [parking enforcement] powers. We'll then be in the hands of the DfT in terms of how quickly they award this."

All six posts will be scrapped at the end of March but the police said efforts would be made to alternative positions for the staff.

The force is looking to cut £20m from its budget in the next four years due to falling grants from government.