Lawrence Trott looks at the difficult job of the City of Hamilton's eight Traffic Wardens.

*** Motorists beware -- Hamilton Traffic Wardens know every trick in the book! One ploy by those trying to beat the system involves deliberately hiding the bottom of the parking vouchers below the windscreen of cars so that the date and time can't been seen by those enforcing the law.

Much to the ire of those drivers, they have returned to their car to see a ticket sticking to their windscreen and a $50 `donation' to Government expected.

"One of the biggest problems Traffic Wardens have, particularly with the fairly new vehicles, is there is a black strip around the (bottom) edge of the windscreen. Unfortunately some people have taken to deliberately putting their voucher in the windscreen so that the bottom two lines can't be read,'' explained Corporation of Hamilton Secretary, Roger Sherratt.

"They put the right month, day and date, but you can't see the hour and minute. We've actually had people boast about this.

"There is a lady who works in an office who says `I've found a way of beating the system, what I do is hide the hours and minutes and fool the Traffic Wardens'.

"She would use one voucher all day so she got a ticket, went around to see a senior Police Officer and complained that she had made a mistake, that she didn't realise they couldn't read the hours and the minutes, and `would you mind taking the ticket away because I made a genuine mistake'.

"What she didn't know was that we'd already reported her after having boasted in her office that she had found a foolproof way of not getting tickets and using one voucher all day. When she got caught red-handed she tried to deny it.'' Sgt. Phil Lewis, in charge of the Traffic Wardens, and who handles complaints about tickets, says acts of dishonestly like that make it difficult to know when a honest mistake has been made.

"As a result now it has made it where the innocent person who has made a mistake gets a ticket,'' he stated.

"Now, I do not, under any circumstances, take back tickets when those things are hidden.'' Stressed Mr. Sherratt: "The onus is on the driver to make sure that the whole ticket is visible. The suggestion we make is that when you get out of your vehicle to glance back and make sure that you can see the whole ticket.'' Senior Traffic Warden, Annberry Ramirez, who is out there on the sidewalks every business day, issues a warning to motorists about improperly scratched vouchers.

"We know all the tricks to the trade when it comes to the vouchers,'' she assures.

"For smudged vouchers we give tickets, too. Now they are using baby wipes to wipe them off lightly and then using the voucher over and over again.

"One girl told me `I know how to beat your system, I use baby wipes, wipe it off and use the voucher again'. I told her `sweetie, don't let me catch you'.'' Ms Ramirez has earned a nickname `Dano', after the `Book 'em Dano' scenario from the former cop show Hawaii Five-O. But she isn't fazed by that reputation.

Sgt. Lewis is often amused at the lengths a person would go to to avoid paying to park.

"It's always easier to pay 50 cents than $50,'' he says.

"If you make any mistake on the ticket then be prepared to pay $50. It's as simple as that.'' And the same violator can be ticketed over and over again for the same offence, ruling out the possibility of a driver, upon discovering a ticket, leaving the car in the same spot for the whole of the day.

Ms Ramirez once gave out four tickets to the same offender after the car stayed there for several hours.

Mr. Sherratt tells the story about a senior executive who found it `convenient' to pay $50 a day for the privilege of parking outside their office on one of the busiest streets in the city.

"This person was getting tickets every day and there were rows of them in the car,'' said Mr. Sherratt who wouldn't say if the offender was a male or female.

"The person was paying thousands of dollars and when we made some inquiries we were told that this person said `I like to park right outside my office and I'm prepared to pay $50 a day'. So they were paying $250 a week to park right outside their office.'' That "very senior executive'' has been broken out of that habit and no longer parks outside their office.

Mr. Sherratt reminds people that the parking area at Albuoy's Point is not the property of the Bank of Bermuda and a voucher is required. If not, be prepared for a ticket.

"It's a road that doesn't belong to the Bank,'' he explained.

Generally, it is ignorance of the various parking restrictions that lands motorists in trouble, as they simply don't pay attention to the signs.

"In parts of north Hamilton we did create one-hour maximum parking areas where parking generally is all day,'' explained Mr. Sherratt.

"As a general rule north of Victoria Street any maximum one-hour parking areas has sign posted. There are three streets in Hamilton where the whole street is one hour maximum, and that is Court Street, Wesley Street and Par-la-Ville Road.'' Added Mr. Sherratt: "If you park east of Court Street, like Front Street, Reid Street, Church Street or Victoria Street, you need a voucher, but you also need to remember that it is one-hour parking.'' Taxi drivers have their own designated bays, but in order to park and shop they have to use the regular parking areas and use a voucher, said Mr.

Sherratt.

Just the ticket! "If they park in the taxi stand they don't need a voucher but they have to stay with their taxi,'' he stated. "Taxi drivers have complained about other taxi drivers.'' These days parking is at a premium for motorcycles and to address that problem, the Corporation is putting up more one-hour parking bays which motorists need to be aware of.

"They shouldn't park on sidewalks, that's been a common problem and it's particularly dangerous for the blind,'' said the Corporation Secretary who also noted that one or two sidewalks are actually on private property and not Government owned.

"We've had blind people actually bump into bikes and they get really upset about it.'' One of the biggest issues to parking in Hamilton remains parking on lower Reid Street between the hours of eight and 10 a.m. when only delivery vehicles are allowed to park. Traffic Wardens get there early enough to warn the public but tickets are still being handed out.

"It's been like that for seven or eight years and I booked five cars just this morning,'' said Ms. Ramirez.

"People are not educating themselves and then they want to put the blame on somebody else,'' Sgt. Lewis stated.

Violating loading zones is another problem which makes it difficult for service vehicles to perform their tasks.

On average about 200 parking tickets a day are handed out which, at $50 each, adds up to a sizeable amount in the Government coffers.

The Corporation of Hamilton works closely with the Traffic Wardens, but Corporation Secretary Roger Sherratt stressed that they are not the responsibility of the Corporation.

"Traffic Wardens come under the responsibility of the Police, the Corporation has no power to withdraw tickets,'' he pointed out.

"The only time people can come and see us is if we have made a mistake or a sign isn't properly displayed.

"For example, if somebody parks in a loading zone and that loading zone is very faded and you can't see that it is a loading zone, then we would write to the Police and suggest that if this person were to go to court the magistrate probably couldn't convict them because the sign wasn't properly displayed.'' Truthfully, Ms Ramirez says she would prefer not to have to give tickets at all. It would mean that the motorists are abiding by the rules, but that would never be the case, human nature being what it is.

The most tickets she has issued on a single day is about 60.

"What that tells me is that on an average day there are about 200 people in this society -- and a lot more that we don't catch -- who blatantly disrespect or disregard the law,'' said Sgt. Lewis with disappointment.

Mr. Sherratt praises the Traffic Wardens for the job they do under difficult circumstances.

"Right now I would say we have a very efficient group of Traffic Wardens,'' he stated.

"There are eight of them in Hamilton who cover the whole of the city and really they do a first class job. But everytime they write a ticket at $50 it doesn't come to the Corporation of Hamilton, it goes to the Government.

"It's in the city's best interest if everybody abides by the parking rules, using vouchers and pay-and-display stickers properly and keeps the streets running smoothly.'' The smooth flow of traffic is often hindered by double parkers. Beware if Sgt.

Lewis is about because he has zero tolerance for such an act in the city.

"That is one of the biggest problems in the city, a total lack of consideration for other road users,'' he informed.

"As a police officer on a bike I don't go around anyone. If I am riding down the street and you are double parked I don't care what you are waiting for I don't go around you, you move.

"One minute of a double park can cause about a 10 minute traffic jam further back up the street. I would forgive you if you are waiting for your granny or aunt outside a store and you are parked on a double yellow line, just as long as you don't do it too long.'' Photos by Tony Cordeiro Parking patrol: Senior Traffic Warden Annberry Ramirez, Roger Sherratt, Secretary of the Corporation of Hamilton, and Sgt. Phil Lewis tackle the issue of parking in Hamilton.

Doing her job: Traffic Warden Annberry Ramirez tickets an offending car in the City Hall parking lot.