London hero: traffic warden gave warnings not tickets

LONDONERS dedicated to freedom, justice and the pursuit of happiness have a new hero this morning - traffic warden Hakim Berkani, who has exposed London's system of parking enforcement for what it has become: a secret, unauthorised tax.

£60 tickets for the most minor infringements are slapped on Londoners' windscreens to generate revenue from which local councils can pay the privatised police force that issues them, and then pocket the change. In short, there's little difference between London and some lawless nation where a soldier at a roadblock shakes down motorists at gunpoint.

We all knew it – but by going to an employment tribunal and speaking his mind, Berkani, 45, has confirmed that there is a quota system, at least in Kensington and Chelsea where he worked. Because he preferred to give some motorists warnings rather than instant tickets, Berkani failed to meet his quota of at least 10 tickets per shift, and was fired.

The London Central Employment Tribunal yesterday upheld Berkani's claim that he was unfairly dismissed last February by NSL, which enforces parking for Kensington and Chelsea and 60 other councils.

Judge Jeremy Burns ruled that NSL operated a "clandestine quota system" to issue tickets to motorists in a "predatory and dishonest" way.

Burns cited as evidence for his ruling an e-mail from a regional manager with NSL which complained about "significant numbers" of wardens failing to meet their targets and that bosses "should not feel uncomfortable to use the disciplinary process".

Berkani, who says he wants his job back, told the Evening Standard: "I feel vindicated and happy. I always tried to do the correct, legal and decent thing by motorists and residents."

He added: "Do you tell a police officer he should arrest at least 10 people a day?"

His case was handled not by a lawyer but by a Chelsea resident, Alasdair Seton-Martin, a former marketing director so angry at the abuse of power that he studied law in order to help Berkani.

"It was a huge victory considering the inequality of arms we had," Seton-Martin told the BBC last night. "I've been trying to stop the unlawful tax-farming from motorists by Kensington and Chelsea. I've known for years about the total greed of the council's parking department."

It is illegal to set minimum quotas of parking tickets, and NSL continues to deny setting them. In spite of Judge Burns's comments, Alastair Cooper, NSL's enforcement solutions director, said: "NSL categorically deny any suggestion that any of our colleagues are set targets or receive incentives linked to the number of PCNs that are issued." ·