Perthshire’s parking attendants regularly face aggression and threats from the public as they patrol the streets.
The latest figures reveal a rise in the number of overall incidents over the past year but there were no physical assaults.
There were 38 incidents of verbal aggression recorded, which included three incidents where parking attendants were followed on their beat by an abusive and aggressive member of the public, and two threats of physical assaults.
The figures for 2013 were obtained by The Courier through a Freedom of Information request.
Compared with 2012, there were more incidents but they were less serious in nature.
Although there were only 23 incidents in 2012, among that statistic were four physical assaults including one attendant “bumped” by a moving car and another pushed so hard that they fell to the ground.
The attendants wear CCTV equipment to record incidents in a bid to deter assaults.
A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said they took the matter extremely seriously and said attendants should be able to go about their duties unhindered.
“The safety of our staff is of paramount importance to the council, and any rise in incidents of violent or aggressive behaviour while at work, however small, is of concern to us,” said the spokesman.
“Our parking attendants play a vital part in helping to keep traffic flowing freely and our roads safe for drivers and pedestrians.
“We continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to verbal or physical abuse and the provision of on-body cameras and radios enables the attendants to record any incident and seek assistance from colleagues or the police should this be necessary.“
Perth and Kinross Council took over responsibility for parking enforcement from Tayside Police in 2002.