Abuse towards “frontline” staff at South Holland District Council will not be tolerated.
Although incidents of verbal or physical abuse towards members of staff dealing with the public are “infrequent”, a zero-tolerance approach is in force to protect them.
In the past year, South Holland District Council has called the police three times after members of the public verbally abused staff, and once because a member of staff was physically assaulted.
Council leader Gary Porter said: “Incidents of abuse towards our staff and those of Compass Point Business Services, which provides the council’s customer services, are infrequent.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse towards staff and will act robustly where it does occur.
“One incident is too many but, thankfully, cases are rare.”
Barry Bradley, the district council’s Street Scene Manager (Enforcement), is in charge of a team of three staff, whose role includes monitoring the district council’s pay and display car parks.
He said: “The lads might encounter a bit of verbal abuse now and again, but they are trained to deal with confrontation.
“Certainly it is not a big problem for us.”