Claims of Intimidation Made in Ealing Traffic Warden Dispute

As well as disagreement over union recognition, staff are claiming the council-owned firm they’re employed by is pressuring them to issue a certain number of tickets. Greener Ealing (GEL) workers allege they are scared to speak out over intimidatory practices that make them feel pressured into issuing parking tickets to meet targets. GEL says that the number of tickets issue is monitored as a performance indicator, but no specific targets are set.

Protesters outside Perceval House were calling on Ealing Council to recognise Unite as their union and withdraw ‘ticket targets’.

One traffic warden, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service [LDRS] that staff are afraid to speak out, for fear of losing their jobs or facing poor treatment from managers. They said: “They do set targets, no matter what they say.

“They threaten action against you, and can make life very difficult for you – I’ve seen it. People are scared to talk because they’re scared. Once you speak out about it, they start looking at everything, looking into you, like they’re watching you.

“They don’t care about the fact they are putting us at risk. All they care about is making the extra money. This kind of treatment did not happen until Greener Ealing, the council, took over.”

GEL, which is the council’s waste contractor, took over the team of traffic wardens from previous employer Serco. In 2022/2023 Ealing Council raised £26.294m from ‘on and off-street parking income’. During the period from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024, the local authority issued a total of 127,139 penalty charge notices (PCNs).

It is alleged that a video has surfaced showing a Greener Ealing manager at a staff presentation mentioning that ‘ratios’ of parking tickets per hour will be checked. It is claimed the video shows them saying the ‘expected ticketing rate is 1.27 per hour’. Other recordings which reportedly form part of the same video are alleged to show people being reprimanded for poor performance with regard to issuing tickets.

At the full council meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Jon Ball, Lib Dem member for Ealing Common, asked Councillor Paul Driscoll, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, about the video. Cllr Driscoll confirmed the existence of a video, and questioned its authenticity. He went on to say that there is monitoring of tickets issued, however he says these are not targets.

He said, “Follow the rules, you’ll be fine, no rip-offs… there are performance indicators that are not ticket related, however they need to keep account of numbers to ensure people are doing the job.”

A spokesperson for GEL said, “We reiterate that we do not set numerical targets of PCNs issued by our Civil Enforcement Officers. We certainly do not mistreat our striking staff and instead look forward to welcoming them back for good. The council remains happy with the performance of the contract since GEL took over.”

Ealing Council said, “Greener Ealing Limited (GEL) operates independently from Ealing Council and manages its own staffing policies. They have confirmed that they do not and have not set numerical targets of PCNs issued by our Civil Enforcement Officers.”

Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter