So just where ARE the traffic wardens? Citizen crusader’s campaign highlights how bad Bournemouth drivers are at parking

The man, who is keeping his identity under wraps, drives around the Bournemouth area every day for work, and has started taking photographs of bad parking.

He started his quest after nearly being hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing while his vision was blocked by a G4S van parked on zigzags.

@bournemouthecho Parking on a roundabout with double yellows is never good! Where is the traffic warden? #whatajoke twitter.com/Goingtocatchya…

— Traffic Wardens (@Goingtocatchya) April 12, 2013

The man, who lives in Poole, said: “I just see cars badly parked everywhere and no one is doing anything about it.

“Just the other day on Lansdowne Road a car was parked on the pavement, and a traffic warden walked straight past it.”

Among the vehicles photographed is a Royal Mail van parked on double yellow lines and a Bournemouth University van parked on a central reservation.

The man said he said he could photograph “100 cars a day” parked dangerously or illegally in Bournemouth.

“I see it every day, and it really is shocking,” he said.

“I don’t support the camera car at all – it should be people on the streets talking to offenders rather than photographs that don’t always get the full story.”

Councillor Michael Filer, who is the cabinet member for transportation at Bournemouth Borough Council, said he would urge anyone who spots illegal or dangerous parking to call the town hall.

He said: “99.9 per cent behave in a conscientious way and want the remaining 00.1 per cent to do so as well.

“This is the percentage we are trying to crack down on. If anyone sees cars or vans parked on double yellows or in a dangerous manner, I would ask them to ring the town hall on 451451 and ask for the traffic department to report it.”

The newest figures available, which cover the financial year of 2011/12, show that the borough council’s camera car has issued 27 per cent more penalty charges than the previous year.

The planning and transport department’s civil enforcement and planning service report has said that, while the number of tickets issued by the 44 front-line traffic wardens remains “broadly constant” with previous years, increasing enforcement covering ‘no loading or unloading’ restriction zones have pushed up the camera car’s successes.

Parking enforcement is in place seven days a week from 8.30am until 9pm, or until 10pm during the summer months.