A driver jumped in their van and revved the vehicle loudly before speeding off – narrowly missing nearby pedestrians outside a school in Cumbria.
The incident outside the unnamed school was seen by Cumberland Council’s Councillor Denise Rollo (Harrington, Labour), who was with the authority’s highways staff because she had heard there were issues with parking outside schools.
She told members of the council’s highways and transport strategic board about the incident during a health and safety update.
Cllr Rollo, the sustainable, resilient and connected places portfolio holder, told members that people in the area could have been hit by the vehicle if they had not jumped out of the way, and the incident was captured on CCTV.
She said she was asking police to investigate the matter.
Karl Melville, the council’s assistant director of highways and transport, said it was part of the wider abuse of frontline workers and there were 90 recorded incidents of verbal and physical abuse of council staff.
He told members that they were working with the police to help improve the situation.
He said precautions were being put in place and regarding council staff, he said: “They don’t come to work to be physically abused or attacked.”
Councillor Roger Dobson (Corby and Hayton, Lib Dems) said the abuse was from a minority of residents but it should not be tolerated.
He added: “I think it’s a good step to engage with the chief constable.”
Councillor Barbara Cannon (St Michael’s, Labour), the financial planning and assets portfolio holder, said: “People think it’s okay to say what they do or threaten staff.”
In October it was reported that a council traffic warden was assaulted in Whitehaven while he was trying to issue a parking ticket.
At the time the council was seeking to prosecute the individual, for the attack on the civil enforcement officer, and an anti-abuse campaign was launched aimed at reducing the abuse and physical assaults against council staff, by members of the public, while they were just trying to do their jobs.
