Glasgow City Council struggling to recruit parking wardens

Glasgow City Council is still struggling to recruit parking wardens, with a new advertising campaign planned.

Over 350 new jobs in cleansing, parking, parks, pest control and roads teams were announced in March last year.

But, while the majority of roles have been filled, the council has found it difficult to find parking attendants. Around 60 posts remain empty and the council could turn to agency workers.

At a meeting of the city administration committee on Thursday, councillor Robert Mooney, Labour, asked: “How many parking attendant posts remain vacant and what is being done to recruit successfully?”

George Gillespite, the executive director for neighbourhoods, regeneration and sustainability at the council, said: “There are approximately 60 vacancies within the parking attendant establishment at the moment.

“We’re going back out to readvert, we’ve advertised probably twice already. We’re going back out again, but we have indicated to the strategic union group that we have that we may explore the use of agencies as a temporary measure.”

In September last year, it was reported that around one-third of 100 parking warden posts had been filled, despite 300 applicants turning up at jobs fairs for the role.

At the time, Cllr Laura Doherty, SNP, the council’s convener for neighbourhood services and assets, said: “As of now 90% of the posts in cleansing, parks, pest control and roads have been filled with most staff either fully deployed or completing final induction and training.

“The most time consuming part of the process has been the recruitment checks, which rely on applicants providing references and documentation and delays have also been caused by candidates declining offers or failing to attend training — requiring some posts to be readvertised.”

She added that jobs fairs had attracted 3,000 candidates, including more than 300 for parking attendant roles. By the end of July, 174 roles were filled with staff out working alongside existing teams in the city.