KEY POINTS:
Invercargill parking wardens were sent home on stress leave on Friday after a bout of public abuse, partly ignited by the city's colourful mayor, Tim Shadbolt.
Shadbolt sparked debate over the council's wardens in a published column last year in which he wrote that they made the SS Panzer divisions and Himmler's Gestapo look like a bunch of Girl Guides when it came to enforcing parking regulations. He later apologised.
The Southland Times repeated the comments in a report on Friday after the wardens' union complained about public criticism of its members.
When the wardens arrived at work on Friday they were given permission to have the day off because of stress.
Tensions started simmering again this month when, at a council meeting, deputy mayor Neil Boniface said there was a perception parking wardens had become more aggressive in issuing tickets.
Shadbolt has recently called for a review of parking in the city and may investigate the possibility of free parking to encourage shoppers back into the centre.
Shadbolt and Boniface did not return calls last night, and Invercargill City Council parking enforcement officer Debbie McCallum declined to comment before hanging up.
But councillor Lindsay Abbott said the wardens had been criticised unjustifiably.
"They've been doing what we as councillors have directed."
Abbott said he had heard tales of wardens being verbally abused by members of the public, and had even heard of an alleged assault.
However, he disagreed with the wardens' union, the PSA, that comments about the wardens should not be made in public. "I believe that any problem of the city has to be discussed in a public forum."
PSA chief executive Rex Askerud said he intended to write to the council about making "inappropriate" public comments. "People have some strong views about parking wardens, they're are just doing their job."
An Auckland City parking warden, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was frequently subject to abuse, and even racial slurs, from the public.
"There are people that swear at you when they get a ticket or they call you names, you just carry on."
"The fact is most people do not like to get a ticket, they want free parking," he said. "Very few people appreciate what we're doing."
Invercargill councillor Geoff Piercy said Shadbolt had "tripped over his lip a bit" with the Gestapo comments.
He did not agree with any suggestion of free parking in the city, as past trials around Christmas failed when people took advantage and parked all day.
Piercy, chairman of the council's works and services committee, which controls the city's four parking wardens, said it was wrong to criticise staff in public, saying it breached the council's code of conduct. "We have a duty of care."
