Traffic wardens get head cameras

Several authorities across the country are using the technology amid fears that the wardens – known as civil enforcement officers – are under threat.

Salford is believed to have been the first council to use the devices which are fitted onto the officer's cap.

Recent research disclosed that councils raised over £300 million in parking fines last year, three times as much as the income generated by speed cameras.

However the enforcement of parking controls is often a source of resentment among motorists who, on occasion, can turn violent.

Salford found that assaults dropped by 30 per cent after the head cameras were brought into use and it is this which has made their use attractive to other councils.

“A minority of people think that civil enforcement officers are a legitimate target for verbal and physical abuse, and the fact that they are being filmed on camera should hopefully make people think twice," said Ismail Ibrahim, the councillor in Bolton behind the scheme in Bolton.

“The footage can also be examined to ensure CEOs are not overstepping their powers and that they are acting in a courteous and professional manner."

As well as acting as a deterrent the cameras can be used to photograph an illegally parked car, with the evidence being downloaded onto a computer at the end of the civil enforcement officer's shift.

Barrie Segal, who runs the motorists' website AppealNow, welcomed the use of the cameras.

"If they are used to prevent abuse, then that is fair enough. But I hope that these cameras will also be used to some of the other things that civil enforcement officers get up to."