Robert Phipps 

In the late 80s early 90s Robert set off to England to find work. There was nothing here, I went over to the Isle of Dogs South Quay, and I walked straight onto a job on a building site. It was the biggest site I ever saw, the biggest thing I saw at home was a building site with few houses, this was on a much larger scale. After that I went across the water to Canary Wharf, putting down floors, a time before there was a precast on building sites. We had to put in shuttering steel and then concrete, which was tough labour. Moved from there then to Thames exchange, down in Bank, another big job in London. After which I went to the Bishop Gates Bank, down Liverpool street after the IRA blew it up, 18 or 19 floors were on that, beside Natwest and Lloyds building. Reinforcing the lift shafts abseiling up and down lift shafts, semi skilled more advanced than general laboring, had to a course for that. On the concrete back then it was 95 pound a day. It was 7 days a week, Sundays started at 7am and finished at 1pm. I Used to get up at around 5am  to get a bus to the tube station, and then it was an hour into the city. Also worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Came back to Ireland after that, the celtic tiger, friends said to come home. there was money on the streets, and it was true. Jobs left right and center, worked with MPM marbling granite in Edgeworthstown, then ended up in ABB driving an oil master, it is like a forklift, was very good wages. The next thing you could see, reading the papers, watching the news, something was not right. Then Lehman Brothers went bust, at ABB the arse was about to fall out of that place, I had just got a mortgage, and now I see this recession coming, some people are not believing it. I remember working with one lad, who was about to buy a house for three hundred thousand, the kitchen alone was about twenty two thousand. He was driving a forklift. I said listen son, you’re not a professional, that is a solicitor or a dentist’s house, you’re a labourer. My advice was no to do it. I was getting letters every week, which my bank was sending, we are now in a position to offer great loans for cars etc, with a picture of a jeep and keys for it on top of the page, with robert written in the name tag. I could see this place was going to close, a job in the council was on offer as a traffic warden. I was thinking if I get into the council, if I survive a while it could be a steady job for a long time, during the recession. Even if I got in it, it could  have been, I would not end up a traffic warden, I could be down in the yard where the boys are, that was fourteen years ago. I have been a traffic warden for fourteen years. Majority of the people all the time are ok, I understand when I’m giving a ticket on someone’s car, they might initially be angry, I understand the heat of the moment, they might shout and call me names that would go with the territory. I could meet that same person next week and there would be no problem, the last thing you want to do is take it personal, you would not last if you took things personal. 

I try to be as fair as possible, the last thing I wanna do is give people a fine. But that is my job, if somebody makes an effort with the pay and display ticket they won’t get a fine outta me. If somebody is up on a footpath with no regard for disabled or mothers and buggies, I am only a bollix for giving a ticket. People say there is no need for this, no need for that, but I guarantee that if the word got out that there was no traffic warden, that day you would not get up or down the street, with cars abandoned everywhere. The council makes the rules, I’m just out there doing a job, if it is not a traffic warden I could be cutting grass, or down the yard, or doing the roads. I work within the rules given to me by the council, if people have issues with a traffic warden, the council sets the remit. If I was given another task to do, I would not miss this, I will say that it is sad, I have lost friends on the back of doing this, people I knew all my life. I was physically attacked once, but as I have said 99percent of the time people are understanding, I do understand the frustration of a ticket, it is a job and not life and death.

I have to say I was moved by an honest and straight talking Robert, they say that anyone that can move away and work supporting themselves is a hero. How many people can say that they had such a work life, and only wanting to keep a wage going, and a regular job with a possible future, if as Robert said to me, if the council put up an advert for a Traffic Warden how many applicants would they have. 

And thinking about that, what if it were your father, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, mother aunty, would you easily curse them, dislike them, take issue with the rules, and not the worker.