TRAFFIC wardens issued motorists with tickets in York city centre while their own car was parked on double yellow lines nearby.

City of York Council today defended the actions of its parking enforcement officers in Davygate, saying wardens were exempt from parking restrictions while enforcing them.

This picture, taken by a journalist from The Press shortly before 9pm last Tuesday, shows the wardens’ Ford car outside the old Borders store as they ticket three vehicles nearby.

One motoring group described the action as “bad practice”, while a York council member told the parking officers to “do as you would be done by”.

Peter Rodger, chief examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said that in his opinion “they should be paying the same penalties as everyone else”.

He believed the wardens should leave their cars where motorists were permitted to park before walking to where they need to be.

He said of the parking: “It’s bad practice and it defeats the purpose of the lines, which is to stop congestion.”

City of York Council’s Conservative group leader, Coun Ian Gillies, said the action was “disgraceful” and a review of parking laws in the city was long overdue.

He said: “When they go out to places like Fulford or Poppleton, obviously they have got to get there and they use council transport.” He felt, however, that if they were prosecuting drivers, common sense suggested they should not be immune themselves.

But a council spokeswoman said the enforcement officers had a waiver while on business.

She said most parking patrols were still done on foot or on bike, but said officers used cars if they were collecting money from meters or if they were on their way to more remote patrols.

She said the staff pictured were in the car because they were on their way to a suburban patrol area. They would, however, always stop if they saw a car parked illegally.