A MOTORIST who drove a car at a parking warden outside a Bradford school has been condemned for being part of an “unacceptable” culture blighting the district.

The Bradford Council employee, 55, was enforcing parking rules near Southfield Grange Campus when he was targeted.

Police are trying to trace the driver.

Councillor Ralph Berry said: “I was shocked to hear a Council warden dealing with traffic enforcement outside Grange School was driven at by a driver angry at enforcement.

“At some point we are going to have to deal with this culture of rules are only what other people have to observe thing. Unless we want more kids run over? It’s a choice.”

He added: “I am picking up on an increasing trend of people abusing Council officers in the course of their duty, particularly parking wardens and Council wardens.”

Cllr Berry (Lab, Wibsey) said too many young children were killed or injured on the district’s roads, and added: “Bradford has one of the highest rates of deaths on the roads, and one of the highest rates of children being injured on the roads, and people we are employing on the front line to help improve the situation - who are not highly paid - are being abused for doing their jobs.

“Some people think they have the right to not observe the laws and rules of our roads and do whatever they want. It is not on.

“The wardens are trying to improve people’s lives and, in fact, save people’s lives by just doing their jobs.

“They are out on the front line and should not have to deal with this. It is totally unacceptable.”

A Council spokesman said: “Violence of any sort towards our staff or members of the public is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

“This incident happened outside a school, where wardens have been working hard to encourage parents to park and drive responsibly, so that the children can arrive and leave school safely.

“Our staff are only doing their job and this behaviour is not acceptable. The incident has been reported to the police who will be investigating.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating an incident where a 55-year-old man was allegedly driven at in Haycliffe Lane, Bradford, at about 2.55pm on Friday.

“This is believed to be related to a parking matter and the aggrieved was not injured.

A spokesman for The Southfield Grange Trust, which runs the school, said it was helping police with the inquiry to trace the driver.

“Like at many schools, school drop-off and collection times at the campus are very busy and we welcome the support of the Council with its recent enforcement action.

“We are working closely with the local authority to ensure a safe environment for pedestrians and motorists.”

Ashley Harper, regional organiser for public service union UNISON, said: “UNISON has campaigned for years to highlight the risks to public sector employees from abusive and sometimes violent behaviour towards them.

“There are thousands of incidents every year across the country of our members being subjected to this sort of attack.

“We constantly pressure management to ensure the individual employees are, as far as possible, safeguarded from this, and we expect very serious action to be taken by them and the police to stamp the problem out.”

Anyone with information about the driver’s identity should contact PC 4409 Prabhakar at Bradford South Area Neighbourhood Team on 101, quoting crime reference 13160694482 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, which can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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