Parking attendants across Shropshire are being given state-of-the-art new head cameras to help them issue tickets and tackle problems in the county.

Shropshire Council said its civil enforcement officers underwent training yesterday ahead of the launch of a pilot scheme, which will allow them to record what they see and monitor Penalty Charge Notices.

The authority is now responsible for parking attendants and runs the organisation Shropshire Parking, which replaced the ParkRight partnership between the county council and the district and borough authorities.

It forms part of the Shropshire Council environmental maintenance division.

Shropshire Parking has 10 of the new head cameras, but if the training proves popular a further four will be bought to ensure every one of its civil enforcement officers has access to one.

The council said it would be up to the individual enforcement officers to decide whether they wanted to use one.

Dave Roberts, Shropshire Council’s environmental enforcement manager, said: “Our civil enforcement officers (parking) underwent training yesterday on how to use our new head cameras.

“We are very excited about the potential for these cameras in accurately monitoring the issue of Penalty Charge Notices.

“We hope that this equipment will aid both the public and officers when having to recall how and when a Penalty Charge Notice is issued.

“Our officers are also the council’s ambassadors and are often asked to report problems across the county, we hope that these new cameras will act as a record of these requests.

“This is a pilot scheme and will be a personal choice for each officer on whether to use the new equipment.”

Mr Roberts said the cameras could be loaned out to security staff and other people involved with partner agencies and police.

By John Kirk