Evening Standard
1 June 2005
London parking attendants are being bribed to cancel penalty notices, an investigation revealed today.
An undercover reporter found a string of rackets involving attendants in several London boroughs.
The traffic wardens boasted of taking bribes to settle parking tickets and release clamped cars - and were also implicated in credit card fraud and a plot to steal motorbikes. Today a full-scale investigation is under way by two firms whose workers were caught up in the undercover operation by the BBC.
The journalist, who spent more than four months working as a parking attendant, caught his colleagues on camera as they:
Issued illegal tickets.
Engaged in credit card fraud.
Plotted to steal a motorbike.
Took bribes and backhanders to settle parking tickets and clamp-release fees.
Among the most disturbing incidents captured was a Westminster attendant taking bribes in return for settling parking tickets, then being filmed paying off the fines with allegedly fake credit cards.
The attendant - working for contractor NCP - was filmed taking ?25 from a second reporter posing as a minicab driver who had received a ?100 parking ticket in Camden.
Within hours of taking the bribe the Westminster attendant paid the fine, apparently using a counterfeit credit card. He repeated the deal with three other tickets using a number of suspect credit cards. The same attendant - who said his name was Joseph - was also caught on film "fixing" a release fee after an undercover reporter's car was clamped in Long Acre, Covent Garden.
The corruption was exposed when the reporter got a job as a parking attendant working for contractor APCOA in Kensington and Chelsea.
The film also caught APCOA attendant Paul Fox as he plotted to steal a motorbike that he claimed was abandoned as it hadn't been moved for five days.
Fox hid the Suzuki by moving it across the street in South Kensington, covering it with a tarpaulin and fixing his own lock to immobilise it.
Another Kensington warden was filmed as he tutored the undercover reporter on how to boost the number of fines he issued after the reporter was warned by bosses for issuing three tickets a day instead of the required 10. He was told to take down a car's details, print out a ticket for a non-existent offence and throw away the portion that should be fixed to the car while filing the second portion as usual.
The "offence" would only come to light when the motorist received a reminder from the council weeks later.
Today, the BBC said the investigation was triggered when a "whistleblower" attendant contacted them.
The attendant told the BBC: "It is all about money for the council and companies involved. There is so much corruption. Management turns a blind eye."
APCOA said it had launched an investigation but it had not found any evidence to support the BBC's claims. A spokesman said: "We believe that the incidents referred to are, at worst, isolated events."
Whistleblower will be screened on BBC1 tonight at 9pm.
