traffic wardens after a report exposing a sneaky meter maid.

"Illegal parking by anyone is against the law,'' Mr. Alex Forbes said in a statement to "clarify the Police Force's position on parking matters''.

Police officers and traffic wardens were not above the law, he stated.

Referring to a Royal Gazette report on Friday uncovering a parking warden who got away with leaving her car for five hours at City Hall car park despite paying for only one hour, and using an outdated pay-parking ticket, Mr. Forbes said: "This sort of behaviour is not condoned and will be dealt with according to the law. With reference to the incident involving traffic warden (Gladys) Dillas, it is now being looked into.'' The Royal Gazette had discovered officer Dillas' actions after a peeved car owner reported seeing the uniformed woman park her car behind City Hall at 8.30 a.m. last October 5 and leave the parking lot 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 illegible.

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

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

"She just left the ticket there as a window dressing.'' When The Royal Gazette confronted her, she claimed she was just lucky to get back in time to avoid a parking ticket.

Her superior Insp. Gertrude Barker confirmed Hamilton's twelve parking wardens were not exempt from paying for parking their vehicles in the city.

But she added it was possible the wardens turned a blind eye to their colleagues' parking infractions.