A parking warden who hands out hundreds of dollars worth of fines daily, paid 50 cents to park her car for five hours at City Hall car park on Wednesday.

And the same warden, Mrs. Gladys Dillas, was recently spotted by The Royal Gazette using an outdated ticket without penalty.

Police Inspector Gertrude Barker yesterday confirmed that Hamilton's twelve parking wardens are not exempt from paying for parking their vehicles in the city.

"It's certainly not allowed,'' she said. "If they're going to park in a space, they have to pay like everyone else.'' But she added it was possible the wardens turned a blind eye to their colleagues' parking infractions.

"It's not illegal until you get caught. She got away with it,'' Insp. Barker said. "Everybody does it at some time.'' The Royal Gazette investigated the story after an angry car owner reported seeing the uniformed woman park her car behind City Hall at 8.30 a.m. last October 5 and leave the car park without buying a ticket.

Mr. William Begg said a ticket on the dashboard indicated an expiry time of 16.52 -- but the date, he said, was unreadable.

The following morning the car was parked in the same spot with the same ticket, Mr. Begg said.

The practice, he claimed, was unfair to other car park users.

"I park there every day and I've never seen a ticket on her car,'' he said.

"There's $80 a month just from that one woman. She just left the ticket there as a window dressing.'' The Royal Gazette visited City Hall car park the following week and saw the ticket with matching ticket number and time, displayed on the dashboard of the car.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Dillas, who retires next week, bought a 50 cent ticket valid for one hour, but stayed for five. After being questioned by a reporter, she claimed she was just lucky to get back in time to avoid a parking fine.

"I get tickets too,'' Mrs. Dillas said.

She denied using an outdated parking voucher.

The smaller car park behind City Hall was not monitored between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesday, although another warden working in the larger parking lot handed out tickets during the period.

She said the complaint would be investigated but the situation was impossible to monitor.

"How many times can you check the checker?'' she asked.

TEN CENTS AN HOUR -- Meter maid, Mrs. Gladys Dillas purchased a one hour parking voucher at City Hall car park but parked her car for five. A parking ticket was nowhere to be seen.