After ticketing one man on Cameron St for parking on a yellow line, he stalked Lisa for weeks before eventually losing his temper and throwing a cup of Pepsi at her.
"He would drive around town, yelling at me from his car and flipping me the finger."
Some weeks later, Lisa had to ticket a car at the same place, for the same offence.
It was the man's partner and a different car.
"I saw him come out of Jesters with a large bottle of Pepsi and a cup of it. He threw the full cup at me.
"Another woman ripped my hat and sunglasses off my head too.
"We are actual people - not 'scum of the earth'," she said.
ENL manager Keith Thompson said three offenders had already been through the courts in the last eight months and fined for assaulting wardens.
The private company administers parking regulations for Whangarei District Council and 17 bylaws, with all wardens working across "parking, barking and noise".
Officer #82 has been spat at and chased out of Laurie Hall Park by a furious passenger of a ticketed car.
Officer #90, Jody, was once threatened by the girlfriend of a gang member, while Officer #91. Eden, has had a number of angry motorists scream at her.
"Most of these are business people in the CBD."
Mr Thompson said staff were verbally abused daily and the five wardens on duty faced constant threats from motorists.
"We get some of the girls [wardens] on the phone crying and some mornings, we just have to collect them and drop them home."
The assaults often involved wardens being pushed on the shoulder.
"We train staff as much as possible but it does take a certain personality to do this job.
"Some shrug it off. We try to tell them to let the insults wash over them."
A number of assaulted officers had since moved on to other jobs.
Mr Thompson said motorists should calm down amid mounting tension and accusations that wardens were merely "aggressive revenue gatherers" for WDC.
There were 27,055 infringements issued in the last 12 months and ENL collected $533,000 (26,982 infringements) for WDC in 2014, and $519,000 (25,085 infringements) in 2013.
Parking fines vary from $10 for going over time (the most common) to $200 for vehicles with no registration or Warrant of Fitness (which make up to 30 per cent of infringements).
WDC uses infringement income to off-set the annual cost of parking enforcement. WDC was unable to comment by edition time on the number of infringements and on the issue of threats faced by contracted staff.
Council also collected $905,000 so far this year in parking meter income. It generated $1.238 million in parking revenue in 2013 and $1.281 million in 2014 with funds used for "providing car parking/roading assets".
Parking warden myths
• Wardens get commission per infringement - FALSE
• Wardens have a quota of tickets to issue - FALSE
• Wardens get a bonus for additional tickets issued - FALSE
• Officers can just strike off tickets at their discretion - FALSE
• Wardens make up the cost of infringements - FALSE
• It is illegal for wardens to chalk tyres - FALSE
• Wardens can only ticket cars after chalking them - FALSE
• Motorists can park anywhere they like as long as they leave their hazard lights flashing - FALSE
• You cannot get a ticket if you are sitting in a stationary car - FALSE
• Parking wardens earn between $28k-$48k per annum - TRUE
• It is okay to verbally or physically abuse a parking warden - FALSE
• Wardens are regular human beings employed to implement parking regulations after motorists flout the law - TRUE
