Under-fire parking wardens in Bradford have been grabbed by the throat, pelted with eggs, spat at and racially abused by angry motorists, according to data obtained by the Telegraph & Argus.

The district’s parking wardens have been the subject of 42 physical attacks and 129 incidents of verbal abuse since Bradford Council took over responsibility in March 2009.

Officers have come under fire from irate motorists more than once a week on average and the police have been involved on 30 occasions, with a handful of cases progressing to court.

Thirteen conduct-warning letters were sent to motorists and six letters went out regarding anti-social behaviour. Of the verbal attacks, 12 were considered racial and two were sexual.

During the same 33-month period, a total of 153,621 parking tickets have been handed out with £4.3m of fines meted out to motorists caught flouting the parking rules.

An incident log of physical assaults reveals details of attacks on parking wardens including one in Leeds Road in October where an officer was hit by a vehicle, and another in November in James Street where a motorist drove a car at a warden.

In other incidents, wardens have been spat at, grabbed by the throat, had things such as drinks, eggs, bottles or shoes thrown at them, been slapped, pushed, or grabbed. In some instances motorists have tried to snatch the camera wardens use to capture evidence out of their hands.

Louise Williams, Bradford Council’s Bradford East Area Co-ordinator, who leads the authority’s new uniformed service, said: “We will not tolerate anyone behaving in an unacceptable manner towards our parking enforcement staff.

“Parking enforcement plays a major part in promoting road safety and preventing congestion. Hard-working and professional staff have a right to go about their business without having to suffer aggressive and abusive behaviour from people who have been caught breaking the law.”

Councillor Imran Hussain, deputy leader of the Council, and executive member for safer and stronger communities, added: “Our parking enforcement officers have a very important and difficult job to do and they are extremely professional.

“We will not tolerate any abusive or insulting behaviour against any member of Council staff, including parking officers, and we will take any necessary action.”

Once a ticket has been issued, wardens do not have the authority to take it back so anyone wanting to dispute a parking ticket, should go through the appeal process.

The figures, which were released under Freedom of Information rules, come as the Council’s new warden service took over this week.

The work of the 40 parking officers has been merged with the 40 neighbourhood wardens and 15 park rangers, bringing up to 95 uniformed officers together in one unit.

They are all known as council wardens and can issue fines to motorists flouting rules as well as to people littering and allowing their dogs to foul in public.

Staff who transferred to the new unit have been undergoing training to enable them to take on the new role, ranging from drug and alcohol awareness to customer service skills and health and safety training.

Neighbourhood policing officers are also assisting the Council by handing out fines for littering and dog fouling.