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Tougher action called for people who attack parking wardens (From Echo)
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Tougher action called for people who attack parking wardens
8:00pm Wednesday 16th January 2013 in News
A PARKING contractor has called for tougher sentencing - after a man attacked one of his wardens.
Neil Hunwicks, whose firm Acpo patrols the town’s streets, believes that people who attack his staff should face prison.
He spoke out after Suchay Hunyh punched civil enforcement officer Heather Povey, 51, in the face leaving her with a bloody nose.
A member of the public rushed to her aid sfter seeing the incident in York Road carpark, Southend.
She was taken to a nearby vets where they managed to stem the bloodflow.
Hunyh, 66, of Manor Avenue, Basildon, was later charged with assault by beating.
He appeared before Southend Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty and was fined £750.
He must also pay £160 costs and £200 compensation to the victim.
Mr Hunwicks said: “APCOA supports the strongest possible sentence necessary to punish anyone who physically assaults our Civil Enforcement Officers and which would act as a deterrent to others.
“In this case, as the assault was particularly serious, a custodial sentence might have been more appropriate.”
The incident happened on November 28 last year as Mrs Povey issued a ticket to Hunyh’s white mercedes van, believing it did not have a valid permit.
Mr Hunwicks said he takes a tough line on anyone who attacks their staff.
Last year they reported 29 verbal assaults and 25 physical assaults.
He said: “APCOA in Southend has a 100% success rate for every assault that gets to court and we have a zero tolerance in all cases where are staff are either threatened or actually assaulted doing their job.”
Mr Hunwicks said that he would also like to thank the people who came forward to help his colleague or agreed to be witnesses.
He said: “I would like to pass on our thanks to these unknown members of the public for their fantastic support to our colleague.”
Comments(23)
allan348
says...
9:13pm Wed 16 Jan 13
A picture would be good I am sure a few members of the public will be keen to see he doesn't ------ do it again!!!
DogsMessInLeigh
says...
9:20pm Wed 16 Jan 13
combat18
says...
10:17pm Wed 16 Jan 13
Nebs
says...
10:19pm Wed 16 Jan 13
Max Impact
says...
11:16pm Wed 16 Jan 13
combat18 wrote:So your happy for a man to hit a woman in the face are you.
Im not being funny but I think traffic wardens need to expect some sort of retaliation for what they are doing to people. They cannot expect to give normal decent hard working people a fine just for parking their motor vehicle and then not receive any sort of abuse or threats of physical violence. Its part and parcel of the job im afraid. They must of known it would be like that when they signed up. Its a bit like joining the army and not expecting any sort of threat to your life. Get a grip traffic wardens if you dont like it you know what you can do.
If he was a "normal decent hard working person" he would not have parked illegally and he would not have hit a woman.
You might think yourself a "big man" using the name Combat 18 but they were just a bunch of moronic thugs, so guess you fit in very nicely.
Shoebury_Cyclist
says...
11:51pm Wed 16 Jan 13
combat18 wrote:'Normal decent hard working people…' who think it is ok to flout the law?
Im not being funny but I think traffic wardens need to expect some sort of retaliation for what they are doing to people. They cannot expect to give normal decent hard working people a fine just for parking their motor vehicle and then not receive any sort of abuse or threats of physical violence. Its part and parcel of the job im afraid. They must of known it would be like that when they signed up. Its a bit like joining the army and not expecting any sort of threat to your life. Get a grip traffic wardens if you dont like it you know what you can do.
Then they are most definitely NOT 'normal decent hard working people', they are scum who think it's ok for them to break the law and get away with it. They broke the law, they parked illegally, they gort a ticket. Take their licences away.
I think the law is too soft, If the consequence of parking illegally was a 12 month driving ban, how many would park illegally?
Too many people think it's ok to break the law if they happen to be in a car when they do it. I say throw the book at them.
pendulum
says...
2:33am Thu 17 Jan 13
Shoebury_Cyclist
says...
7:48am Thu 17 Jan 13
pendulum wrote:This isn't about cycling, i'm speaking as a driver, so pull your neck in. I drive for a living and I am sick and tired of the appalling driver behaviour I see day in day out. Anyone who assaults a parking warden deserves to lose their licence alongside any other punishment. And I DO believe we are far too soft on motoring crimes in Britain.
Shoebury... Just quieten down. You and people like you just end up causing more resentment towards cyclists with the foolish things you say. I cycle and just to be perfectly clear, you don't speak for me.
Just as examples: Speeding should carry a minimum 6 points and £500 fine. Illegal parking the same. That would have the Darwinian effect of gradually removing the dangerous and bad drivers for our roads. Making them safer for the rest of us.
JuliaM
says...
8:01am Thu 17 Jan 13
JuliaM
says...
8:06am Thu 17 Jan 13
"This isn't about cycling, i'm speaking as a driver, so pull your neck in. I drive for a living and I am sick and tired of the appalling driver behaviour I see day in day out.. "
I'm speaking as a pedestrian sick and tired of walking along Southend High Street and nearly being mown down by the speeding cyclists ignoring the 'No cycling' signs!
Rich,Carol
says...
8:20am Thu 17 Jan 13
99% of traffic wardens have NO common sense in a situation to ticket a car or van. Half of tickets given could be dealt with with warnings. Yes 50% of illegal parkers should be ticketed as some drivers take diabolical liberties. But 50% tickets dished out could be dealt with by other means.
A uniform should not give anyone super powers and as soon as these cowaldly people put on a uniform the power goes to their heads and their hormones go haywire.
BUT no one should ever hit a woman unless a woman strikes you first. So before the morons jump to my message I will repeat, No one should strike a woman unless the woman hits you first.
Shoebury_Cyclist
says...
8:21am Thu 17 Jan 13
JuliaM wrote:Do shut up. How about making a comment relevant to the story for once?
Oh, and as for Shoebury Cyclist:
"This isn't about cycling, i'm speaking as a driver, so pull your neck in. I drive for a living and I am sick and tired of the appalling driver behaviour I see day in day out.. "
I'm speaking as a pedestrian sick and tired of walking along Southend High Street and nearly being mown down by the speeding cyclists ignoring the 'No cycling' signs!
Spread 'em
says...
11:29am Thu 17 Jan 13
I know they're sneaky rats - but wasting a vets resources. Really???
Rich,Carol
says...
11:53am Thu 17 Jan 13
Shoebury_Cyclist
says...
12:25pm Thu 17 Jan 13
Rich,Carol wrote:If you've got something to say to, don't hide like a coward, come and say it on Twitter: @ShoeburyCyclist
People have gone off the subject talking about stupid moronic cyclists so as a driver I wanna say that these embeciles that ride bikes are a menace to drivers and pedestrians going in and out of traffic up and down curbs, jumping lights, going between pedestrians when there walking accross a zebra crossing with kids and prams. They have less respect than drivers. Bloody menance on road users and pavements and most of them are do gooders and ban the bomb throwbacks. Ban bikes and give a cyclist 25 years in parkhurst ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Bring it on moron.
mrcheetah
says...
3:38pm Thu 17 Jan 13
At the end of the days, these guys who work for APCOA(Southend Echo), are Civil Enforcement Officers. They are entrusted with the same trust, as a police officer, therefore the punishment should be more severe. We hear about regular occurrences with these guys, but at the end of the day if the population didn't park illegally, they would be out of a job. I say, up their wages and give them protection items, I.E Stabvests and Mace, and allow them to fight back. I bet people would fear them then.
Essex Medja
says...
5:23pm Thu 17 Jan 13
Rich,Carol wrote:This and the previous post...
People have gone off the subject talking about stupid moronic cyclists so as a driver I wanna say that these embeciles that ride bikes are a menace to drivers and pedestrians going in and out of traffic up and down curbs, jumping lights, going between pedestrians when there walking accross a zebra crossing with kids and prams. They have less respect than drivers. Bloody menance on road users and pavements and most of them are do gooders and ban the bomb throwbacks. Ban bikes and give a cyclist 25 years in parkhurst ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
.
Magistrate, charity worker, pillar of the community, etc,etc...
.
Never in a million years, just Wilma Mitty.
Max Impact
says...
6:27pm Thu 17 Jan 13
If you think it's alright to hit a woman then your scum, the simple fact is if you park illegally even if it is for five minutes then you deserve a tickets no if's no but's.
If you can not park legally you should not be driving simple fact.
Shoebury_Cyclist
says...
6:46pm Thu 17 Jan 13
Rich,Carol wrote:No-one should hit a woman. Full stop.
No one should hit a woman but some of these parking wardens are very rude and nasty and they have a uniform and the power goes to their small pea brain.
99% of traffic wardens have NO common sense in a situation to ticket a car or van. Half of tickets given could be dealt with with warnings. Yes 50% of illegal parkers should be ticketed as some drivers take diabolical liberties. But 50% tickets dished out could be dealt with by other means.
A uniform should not give anyone super powers and as soon as these cowaldly people put on a uniform the power goes to their heads and their hormones go haywire.
BUT no one should ever hit a woman unless a woman strikes you first. So before the morons jump to my message I will repeat, No one should strike a woman unless the woman hits you first.
Maverick06
says...
7:22pm Thu 17 Jan 13
combat18 wrote:God just grow up and forget the stereotypical view of Traffic Wardens. This is 2013 and not the dark ages! Traffic Wardens shouldn't expect people to abuse them or hit them for doing a job. What would you prefer that they just all give up their job, sign on and live off the state?
Im not being funny but I think traffic wardens need to expect some sort of retaliation for what they are doing to people. They cannot expect to give normal decent hard working people a fine just for parking their motor vehicle and then not receive any sort of abuse or threats of physical violence. Its part and parcel of the job im afraid. They must of known it would be like that when they signed up. Its a bit like joining the army and not expecting any sort of threat to your life. Get a grip traffic wardens if you dont like it you know what you can do.
Combat18, yeah just realised. With a name like that I shouldn't expect anything else but agreeing with violence.
I'll stop my writing now as it's obvious it won't go through your thick skull.
Maverick06
says...
7:30pm Thu 17 Jan 13
Rich,Carol wrote:No Nazi or Gestapo comments today I see, that's not like you!
No one should hit a woman but some of these parking wardens are very rude and nasty and they have a uniform and the power goes to their small pea brain. 99% of traffic wardens have NO common sense in a situation to ticket a car or van. Half of tickets given could be dealt with with warnings. Yes 50% of illegal parkers should be ticketed as some drivers take diabolical liberties. But 50% tickets dished out could be dealt with by other means. A uniform should not give anyone super powers and as soon as these cowaldly people put on a uniform the power goes to their heads and their hormones go haywire. BUT no one should ever hit a woman unless a woman strikes you first. So before the morons jump to my message I will repeat, No one should strike a woman unless the woman hits you first.
99% hey! Is this an actual figure or something you made up as usual?
Even if a woman hits a man first, that must make you really tough if you hit them back!
What a joke!
Maverick06
says...
7:45pm Thu 17 Jan 13
The Traffic Warden is not at fault her, the Magistrate is! Rich, Carol this wasn't you was it? You have said you are a Magistrate and you have said Traffic Wardens are Nazi's and Gestapo, so putting two and two together, maybe I have come up with you?
The Magistrates should give tougher sentences, but they are given guidance to keep people out of prison, so a simple fine will not stop people doing it again, especially if he is only paying a pound a week.
100% of the people they have taken to court have been found guilty so this company are doing their bit to support the staff, but they are being let down in court!
I wish the women well and hope she is back at work doing the job she is paid to do.
Max Impact says...
8:33pm Wed 16 Jan 13
He should have been jailed, this 51 year old lady was just doing her job.