DRIVERS often complain, unnecessarily, about traffic wardens.

They do an important job in helping to keep our town centres flowing freely and stopping thoughtless people abandoning their cars in dangerous places.

One school of thought is that if you haven’t done anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about as far as parking fines are concerned.

Then there are the occasional examples of traffic wardens being over-zealous in their dishing out of tickets.

The case of workers being fined in Blackburn this week is a prime example.

The staff generally use a private car park but were unable to do so due to inclement weather.

Instead, they parked on the snow-covered road outside but traffic wardens turned up as the snow was melting, revealing double-yellow lines.

There have been cases, although not in East Lancashire, of traffic wardens being awarded incentives for handing out the most penalties.

This practice, which conjures pictures of wardens running from car to car, seems to have been scrapped in most parts.

Let’s hope common-sense prevails in the Blackburn case and the drivers are able to successfully appeal their fines.