MOTORISTS beware: Southend Council chiefs have another weapon up their sleeves to catch drivers parked illegally.

The idea is that anyone who spots someone parked over their driveway or dangerously in the town can call the council and a car will be sent out to ticket the offending vehicle. Parking wardens have just ordered a new Fiat 500 for the job.

Wardens in the town already have mopeds and mountain bikes to get them around, but the new car is specifically to respond to complaints.

Peter Wright, parking contract manager for the council, said: “If our control room is alerted to a motorist who has parked in a dangerous location it can radio through to the fast response car which can get there in minutes.”

Parking wardens operate in Southend between the hours of 7am and 9pm and the exact location of each officer is tracked by staff in a control room.

Mr Wright added: “A number of London councils have been to visit Southend to see how we are operating the system. The performance targets we set for the contractors Apcoa are based on how much ground they cover and not on how many tickets they issue.

“The perfect result of our partnership would be zero parking tickets issued across the borough because that would mean everyone was parking legally and safely.

Stephen Ryan, 50, of Wren Avenue, Eastwood, was wary of the scheme. He said: “The idea of safe parking and cutting back on inappropriate parking is a good idea I would welcome that.

“But I think people are generally quite concerned about the reasons for things such as this.

“There is always the underlying concern that these are nothing more than money raising reasons for doing this. You have to ask yourself are they doing this simply to increase revenue?”