A council officer has slapped a council ’emergency vehicle’ with a parking ticket.
A local resident spotted the bizarre event happening in Rodbourne Road, Swindon, earlier today (Saturday) – and quickly snapped a photo to evidence it.
The parking enforcement officer was seen to place a ticket on the Homeline-branded vehicle, which was parked on zig-zag lines just before a pelican crossing.
The Highway Code states that “you must not park on them” because doing so would “block the view for pedestrians and the approaching traffic” – causing a serious hazard.
Homeline is a Swindon Borough Council-run organisation that responds to vulnerable people’s calls for urgent assistance – with staff first aid trained and equipped with defibrillators.
Whilst the nature of the call being responded to by the Homeline response officer is unknown, the vehicle was parked illegally and as a result, received a parking ticket.
But the question is: will Swindon Borough Council’s Homeline department have to pay Swindon Borough Council’s parking enforcement team’s ticket or was this all a waste of paper?
Most importantly, it is likely to raise questions over how parking enforcement officers deal with illegally parked council-owned vehicles. Perhaps a phone call to the relevant team about their parking would have swiftly resolved the issue at hand.
The local man, who captured it on camera, said you “couldn’t make it up”.
Adding: “It’s a bit like the undercover police, dealing drugs to another team of undercover police from a different state in the US.”
Swindon Borough Council has been approached for comment.
