Not Welcome

Traffic wardens, no matter whether you love or loathe them you must admit at the end of the day they do a necessary job. This is easily proved if you take a look round the town centre on a Sunday. Especially round the back of Barrow's Portland Walk down the Preston St area. Drivers know that local traffic wardens don't work on the Sunday and take full advantage of it. But some of the careless obstructive parking has to be seen to be believed. Many a time I have been unable to drive down to the Preston St club to pick up a fare, all because of some avid Sunday shopper dumping their car in the middle of the road to save walking an extra two or three yards.
But a parking attendant at one of our local superstores solved the mystery of why no taxis hang around on the Tesco car park for me. I had just dropped of at the store and knew that I would be given a fresh job within minutes. The car park was fairly empty and so I pulled into a nearby space to wait. Within thirty seconds the parking attendant who it seems works for a separate company, but have the contract to control the car park, was over. Now it's pretty obvious by the door signs and plates that I was in a taxi. And it's even more obvious that I was working by the fact that I was sat in the taxi having just dropped of at the store. I was therefore surprised when he entered my number into his machine. Seeing me watching him he walked up to me and informed me that he had taken my number, I shrugged and said "OK no problem but why." He gleefully told me that "if he spotted me again, anywhere on his car park within the next five hours he would give me a ticket." Charming eh! But strangely the same firm operate the rival Morrison's supermarket and taxis are welcome there. And I should think so too after all we are a vital service to their customers.