Hooray! Traffic wardens to strike

Drivers are celebrating today after it emerged that up to 10,000 traffic wardens are due to go on strike next month.

They are refusing to work thanks to a national pay dispute involving 1.3 million council workers and have set no limit on how long they will stay out.

Cleaners, dinner ladies, teaching assistants and dustmen will walk out for 24 hours next Wednesday and the country's traffic wardens plan to join the protest in August.

News of the strike is bound to please motorists, but could bring chaos to the streets. The AA warned: "There could be mayhem. The beauty of the traffic warden - if one can use such a phrase without getting lynched - is that they control things."

The action is bad news for cashstrapped councils because they will see a drop in income from parking tickets, leaving the wardens in a strong position to make their demands.

The average parking ticket penalty is £40 - handing the capital's 33 boroughs about £110 million each year.

Jack Dromey, the national organiser of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), said the strike would last "as long as it takes". He added: "We want a fine-free summer, with wardens and motorists united to end low pay."

Britain's 14,000 wardens earn £5 an hour and will be paid by the unions during the planned action.

The walkout by 1.3 million council staff will force the closure of schools, libraries, swimming pools and every other council service.

? It emerged in March that more than 20,000 tickets issued in London each year are overturned when they are challenged by motorists.

Nearly two-thirds of drivers who protest are cleared by the London Parking Appeals Service, the independent adjudicators.