Browse Sections

• Education
• Special reports

Warden alarm

Miles Skinner
25/11/2004

PEOPLE will flee in terror and peak-hatted officers blitzing Middleton Gardens will loose the element of surprise, now local traders are declaring war on "Red Peril" traffic wardens with a new weapon.

As Tony Collier, of Zone One Trading, turned the handle of a Second World War air raid siren at the bottom of Wood Street, the wailing device was not the only thing he was winding up - although it is hoped ticket-happy parking officers will see the funny side.

More than a dozen local shopkeepers pooled their resources to buy the Secomak siren, once owned by the Scottish Home Department for £185 on internet auction site eBay. The mission? To protect themselves and customers from £30 parking fines they say are crippling small scale businesses in Middleton.

Mr Collier, a spokesman for the group, said: "The Council will not listen to us. They refuse to recognise the fact that they are driving our customers away and do nothing to bring them back. Perhaps they'll hear this!"

In keeping with instructions detailing three types of warning - red, grey or white - Mr Collier is to use red, indicating imminent danger as a rising and falling note for 1 minute, as soon as the red caps are spotted by one of his many scouts.

"Our customers cannot load bulky items because they are booked within seconds of parking. The system used to work fine when there was sensible give and take on all sides, but since the "Red Perils" parked themselves in Wood Street a couple of months ago, we have all suffered very badly," he said.

Mr Collier added: "We have become convinced the council wishes to shut us down in preparation for Tesco. Even the Christmas lights don't extend to our shops as they have in the past. I'm not sure about beaches or fields, but we shall fight them in the streets!"

Shopkeepers and drivers in the town are now waiting with baited breath to see whether or not the grey warning will have to be employed as it was during the war, to signify expected fallout.