"We're being asked to be parking wardens before there are any meters or proper traffic rules," said a frustrated official.

In 1998 he threw a wheel clamp on the car of a parking warden, which generated some new publicity.

Striking Southampton parking wardens protest at council pay cuts.

Clements pulled into a No Parking zone and a parking warden appeared out of nowhere like a grey genie.

Parking wardens may enforce the parkings by license plate, transponder tags or barcode stickers.

A grim glimpse into the world of the parking warden has been provided by a tribunal for the case of Hakim Berkani.

There is also limited on-street parking in some streets, enforcement of which is the responsibility of council parking wardens.

The list includes carpenters, plumbers and accountants, although many of the permitted jobs, such as party clowns, park attendants and parking wardens, will have little major impact on the economy.

Whenever pollsters ask people to name the professions they love to hate the most, the list of usual suspects - parking warden, politician, estate agent and, yes, journalist - often features the taxman.

CALIFORNIA -'The Nation's Most Populous State,' with enough uniformed parking wardens in Los Angeles alone to conquer Eastern Europe.

The real injustice with fines in this country is for those issued by civilian parking wardens, which cannot be challenged in a magistrates court as was once the case when they were issued by a police officer.

Locals have fears that Orewa is turning into NZ's equivalent of Queensland's Gold Coast, but until they start exporting retirees and replacing them with bikini-clad parking wardens that's unlikely to happen.

Everyone has their own tale of an inflexible parking warden who smears a patina of mean-mindedness across the day, but it is worth considering the extreme pressures placed on individuals who might otherwise be reasonable.

Parking wardens maintain order in these systems by license plate, transponder tags or barcode stickers or they read a digital display in the same way as they read a pay and display receipt.

The canal footage of the chase where Bond soaks the parking wardens was filmed at Wapping and the boat stunts in Millwall Dock and under Glengall Bridge were filmed at the Isle of Dogs.

This would have the additional advantage of easing the task of parking wardens who would only need to recognize the European card as well as their own national card, rather than having to grapple with a myriad of cards from all over the Union.