New figures showing the extent to which parking wardens in the district have been assaulted, insulted and generally abused make difficult reading.

Council wardens have found themselves on the receiving end of some sort of altercation with irate motorists more than once a week since March 2009.

For too many drivers, the district’s parking wardens have obviously become an easy target to vent their anger and frustration when they find themselves in what is often an avoidable situation.

Parking wardens are not always the most popular people because of the nature of their work, but they do a very difficult job in often trying situations. Too many people will make light of these incidents, saying it is an occupational hazard for this sort of work.

But no one deserves to be insulted and abused and in some cases spat at and physically attacked for simply doing their job. The behaviour of the motorists and their passengers involved in such incidents is absolutely inexcusable. And strong action must be taken to deal with this behaviour, which in many cases must be viewed as criminal.

Whatever anyone thinks of parking restrictions, they exist and they have to be policed.

Parking wardens will be under no illusions about their popularity when they are issuing tickets, and for that very reason, this is a difficult enough job as it is. But no matter how annoyed those who receive a ticket are, and no matter how much mitigation they believe they have, the reason they are receiving a ticket is because they have broken the parking regulations.

Rather than using the warden as a convenient scapegoat, drivers need to count to ten and then put the blame where it really lies – with themselves.