Yes
"emissaries of evil" in that the people in charge don't quite have it right - targets, odd parking restrictions, etc. But generally no, traffic wardens do a fine job. Those double yellow lines are there for a reason. Pedestrians want to be safe. Residents like to leave their cars near their homes. Why should all the traffic be held up so that one lazy, selfish, disorganised arse can stop right outside the shop?
(Spamuel, Thu 27 May 2010, 12:49, 1 reply)

Except that in many places
they are pursuing a monetary agenda and not a public health & safety one. One evening I erroneously parked one street over the borough line in Westminster when my Resident's Parking disc was RBKC. Potentially I was depriving a Westminster resident of a space - except I wasn't because there were loads free. £250 to retrieve it from the pound + taxi to get there + the dinner I'd shelled out for.

Utter, utter bastards.
(Happybara The jungle came alive and took him, Thu 27 May 2010, 13:23, closed)

So you're so stupid you don't know where you live
and were penalised for parking somewhere where you don't live. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
( Bazongaloid, Thu 27 May 2010, 23:00, closed)