Traffic wardens are being offered many prizes

Private parking company NCP said it will give away a Vauxhall Corsa to the employee who hands out the most valid fines in Westminster, central London, before December.

The runner-up in the competition, which also takes into account attendance and complaints against the warden, gets a �1,500 holiday voucher and the third prize is an �800 28-inch widescreen TV.

But motorising organisations have condemned the scheme, which also promises monthly bonus prizes of shopping vouchers.

Critics say it could make the 250 parking attendants - who patrol the streets around Westminster - over zealous in their approach.

Rebecca Rees, spokeswoman for the AA Motoring Trust, said it was the first financial incentive scheme she had heard of in Britain.

Driver's suspicion

"There is already a high degree of suspicion among drivers about parking enforcement and this only raises that suspicion.

"Revenue in Westminster is down since congestion charging and this just seems like a desperate attempt to increase income.

"Our position on parking enforcement is to target persistent offenders, not those that are just a minute over the time."

But a spokesman for Westminster Council - which contracts NCP to carry out parking enforcement duties - said: "This is not about issuing more tickets - it is about issuing valid tickets.

"In fact the actual number of parking charge notices being issued is down.

"The majority of parking attendants will not benefit from this scheme and while the scheme is designed to ensure all attendants issue similar numbers of valid tickets, it has a range of other criteria including attendance record, productivity and the number of tickets challenged.

"The criteria also states that to be eligible under the scheme, an attendant must have a clean complaints and disciplinary record."