Taxi Driver Online

Sleeping cab driver angry that traffic wardens left ticket without checking he was alive
A taxi driver has criticised traffic wardens who gave him £50 ticket while he slept – claiming they should have checked whether he was alive first.

Published: 7:30AM BST 24 Aug 2010

Steve Woodwards, 41, pulled over for a quick nap in an empty short-stay car park at 7am but nodded off before buying a ticket.

When he woke up 20 minutes later he discovered a traffic warden had crept up to the car and stuck a £50 penalty notice on his windscreen.

Mr Woodwards, from Swindon, Wilts., admits he was illegally parked but says the warden should have checked he wasn't dead behind the wheel.

He said: ''I just think it is absolutely ridiculous and laughable.

''This person had no consideration as to whether I was alive, I could have been in a coma or seriously ill.

''I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have expected to find a cab driver sleeping in a car park, so just a quick knock on the door to check if I was OK would have been nice.

''It is not like the space was needed as there was only one other car in the car park. Just a bit of decency wouldn't have gone amiss.''

The taxi driver of nine years pulled into Bath Road car park in Swindon at 7am last Friday after starting his shift at 3.45am.

But before he bought a ticket – which costs 90p for an hour – he dozed off.

He said: ''When you start an early shift you can often start feeling a bit dozy, especially when you are just sat around and haven't had a particularly brilliant night's sleep beforehand.

''We'd had a busy morning on Friday so I pulled into a space for a quick drink and just dozed off for about 20 minutes.''

Small print on the back of the ticket reveals that the warden had to observe his car for at least three minutes before issuing the ticket.

He said: ''They [traffic warden] must have been completely silent because when you are just dozing, the slightest noise can wake you up.

''I have a radio unit in the car which makes a bleeping noise to let me know I have a job to go to, and that always wakes me up.

''This just shows these traffic wardens aren't concerned about people's welfare, all they are interested in is the money.''

Mr Woodwards has agreed to pay the fine but branded the traffic warden's actions as ''stupid''.

Source; telegraph.co.uk

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
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When debating on the TDO Forum.

Maybe he was in a deeper sleep than he thought and maybe the warden could hear him snoring.

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Grandad,

PMSL.....the best one in ages.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Would it be better if the warden wrote out the ticket, stick it on the windscreen, then knock on the window to wake him to see if he was ok?

Council get their money, driver's welfare is sorted.

I thought the whole point of wardens was to clear the streets/parking places of cars that shouldn't be parked up.

All that particular vulture had to do was knock on the window and ask him to move.

But then they don't get any money that way.

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IDFIMH

Traffic wardens aren't paid on commission the bloke should have paid for parking before having a kip probably to the traffic wardens eyes he was taking the micky by using a pay parking space for his nap

he got caught out thats life