The wardens employed in the London Borough of Lambeth resigned or didn't turn up for work when NCP Services took over the contract for providing the service in August. NCP claim it has to carry out passport and visa checks on employees as a matter of course and the staff left as a result.
A spokesman for NCP Services said: "When we take over a contract from another contractor we start checking as a matter of course on day one. In larger urban areas when we take over operations it is not unheard of to find some people who do not have the right to work. We do not know whether all of [the staff who resigned] did not have the right to work because they resigned of their own accord."
NCP Services also explained that it has hired replacement staff and a full traffic warden service has been restored.
A spokesperson from Lambeth Council added: "We support NCP Services in its efforts to ensure staff employed in Lambeth have the right to work in this council."
The spokesman added it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the practices of the previous contractor at this stage.
This comes in the same week that the prime minister, Gordon Brown, praised the contribution of migrant workers to the UK economy, but added that checks on migrant workers were "only fair".
Traffic wardens walk out because of passport /visa checks
Forty-eight traffic wardens have quit their jobs because their employer intended to carry out passport and visa checks on staff.
