Traffic warden Jayantilal Kotecha was seen writing a parking ticket in King Street in Peterborough in 1978. He was born in Uganda in April 1939 and came to London in 1971 before the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, expelled Ugandan Asians in 1972. He moved to Peterborough in 1972 and worked as a traffic warden for a few years but left because he suffered abuse and was once threatened with a knife. He spoke Hindi, Gujarati, and Swahili and occasionally helped the police in courts as an interpreter. He then worked in Barclays until his retirement in 1992. He is married to his wife Champa Kotecha and has three children, one of whom is a doctor.

He said: “In 1978 the winter was so severe the roads were frozen and the diesel froze so there were no buses or cars. Out of 26 traffic wardens, my friend and I were the only two to turn up for our shift after walking several miles to work. I remember the working conditions were very strict and we weren’t allowed to walk in pairs, not even to lunch."