LONDON, Nov 20: Before moving to the UK from Nepal, Durga Pokhrel believed Britain to be a utopia of good manners and humane attitudes.
But after a year spent enduring a stream of abuse as a Westminster parking warden, Pokhrel´s view of England as a green and pleasant land has taken a knock.
The former educational coordinator will be seen struggling to come to terms with the darker side of London in a shocking fly-on-the-wall documentary screened on Thursday on Channel 4 (C4).
Confessions of a Traffic Warden, which was broadcast on Channel 4, reveals the shockingly racist and violent abuse that Westminster wardens regularly endure at the hands of irate drivers.
In one particularly disturbing scene, while out on a night shift, a Nigerian warden called Alex is told by a group of young Asian men: "I´ll kill you, you f***ing c**n."
And in a surreal training session, along with adverse weather conditions, one of the risks new recruits are warned of before they hit the streets are drive-by shootings.
During the film, Pokhrel, who speaks four languages and has read the complete works of Shakespeare, is seen grappling with the public´s aggression towards him.
Months after starting work in Westminster, he admits his life as a warden is not quite what he imagined it to be.
"This is not the way I wanted to serve the public," he says dolefully.
At one point he even dropped out of the filming because he said he was ashamed of what he was doing.
Speaking exclusively to the Wood&Vale after making the documentary, Pokhrel says the problem is that parking wardens are fundamentally misunderstood by the public.
"They think we´re not human beings, that we´re demonic," he said.
"There is a gap between civil enforcement officers [CEOs] and the public.
"They think we are immoral and we think the drivers are immoral."
The makers of Confessions of a Traffic Warden were given access to the council´s parking-enforcement operation over a six-month period.
They filmed the recruitment, training and day-to-day working of Westminster´s 200 CEOs -- 90 per cent of whom are foreign nationals.
Tim Cowen of NSL, the company contracted to oversee parking enforcement for the council, said: "Sadly, such abuse is a reality in our business, and although generally attitudes towards parking officers and the important job they do have improved a lot, there is still a minority of people out there who regard this sort of behavior as acceptable.
"The thing that astounded me was that these people even continued behaving in this way when our CEO was accompanied by a cameraman and it was obvious they were being filmed by TV. They didn´t seem to be ashamed of what was truly shameful behavior."
Another news report says, "These poor devils have become public enemy number one. Earning £7 an hour, they are subjected daily to insults and threats of bodily violence."
With pay so low, many of those attracted to the positions are newly arrived immigrants. If nothing else it´s an efficient way of crushing their idealistic view of England.
Durga was a poet just arrived from Kathmandu. All his life he had dreamed of coming to England. He speaks four languages, has two Masters degrees, and has read the entire works of Shakespeare. All that to be called the "scum of the earth" by some pompous oaf in a Merc.
"In England," he said, prior to taking the job, "human beings are valued. There is no violence that you find in most other countries nowadays . . . but I may not be perfect in my thought."
Too right. Confessions Of A Traffic Warden revealed a country only too happy to square up and hurl insults at every opportunity. Officers in Westminster don´t buy food in public for fear it´s been poisoned by disgruntled shopkeepers.
Somewhat naively, Durga had been busy helping people, teaching them how to pay for parking and reach their destination. His reward was to face the sack for not accruing enough fines.
He concluded that to be a traffic warden he´d have to become the kind of man he didn´t want to be. "This country makes a man ask a very difficult question," he said, drawing on his Shakespearean knowledge. "To issue or not to issue the ticket."
"I dream of the day when people will treat me with respect," he told his boss. A lifelong Englishman, he was utterly bemused that anyone should entertain such an idea.
In the end, the disillusioned Durga decided he didn´t want to bring his wife and family here. "At my school," he said, "we had history books about the glorious days of England. I used to read them over and over. I used to learn that countries should be places where there is pride, humanity, rationality, where people are leading human life in a true English manner." He paused. "We have to change the books," he concluded.
PLEASE DESIST FROM ATTACKING THE WRITER PERSONALLY AND BE RESPECTFUL TO OTHER READERS.
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As an Englishman who has worked over 25 years in Nepal, I need to explain some things about this story to Nepali readers.
Nepalese are generally popular in UK. Traffic wardens, however, are universally hated, whatever their ethnic origins. Unfair, of course, as they have a legitimate job to do, but no-one likes getting a parking ticket.
So, if you crave love and respect, don´t become a Traffic Warden! It´s rather as if someone deliberately chose one of the
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John Dickinson
I have to think twice before moving to another country. This is time to think and decide for my future.
some say there is no dark side of the moon! but there is, any where. even in heaven. coz we are the one going to heaven and make it dark.
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nianmo
Your headline is a little blown out - Durga ji actually faced no racism in the film. It was all the other people. The main point that the film connotated (other than the awful job) was that Durga was hugely naive (why did he not know about this, but all the other new immigrants did?). Similarly the most awful racism in the film was between Asian youths and a black officer. That is not to say that the whities are innocent - they were just as bad - but to explain to your readers that it is not as
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olfrog
The ultimate experience of people who works hard to keep up their life. These has been forgotten by new generations. The youths have to look this and think about how life is difficult and struggling for genious people like Durga Prasad.
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