Fake car park attendant at Bristol Zoo 'has swindled visitors out of money for TWENTY YEARS'
A FAKE car park attendant at Bristol Zoo has reportedly swindled visitors out of money for 20 years, according to a popular urban myth.
For two decades it was believed that a fraudster got away with the scam before taking his fortune and vanishing abroad.
According to the myth, Bristol Zoo believed the man was working for the council, while the local authority believed he worked for the zoo.
Bristol Zoo have consistently said this is not true, but a research group has unearthed a story which could explain where the myth came from.
Community campaign group Downs for People have been trying to stop the use part of the Downs opposite the entrance to Bristol Zoo as an overflow car park.
The land has been leased to the zoo for temporary use on busy days for decades by the Downs Committee, Bristol Live reports.
POPULAR MYTH
The campaign group is preparing to take the Downs Committee and Bristol City Council to court to argue that the Downs should not be used for parking, but should be kept for people to use recreationally.
While doing research for the court case, Downs for People said they found proof that some people collected parking money from motorists parking on the Downs to visit the zoo.
The archives, however, did not seem to clarify how the money was used or who it was given to.
The group’s spokesperson Susan Carter told Bristol Live: “There is truth behind the myth of Bristol’s phantom zoo parking attendant.
“For almost thirty years, from 1958 until the mid-1980s, and quite likely for 30 years before that, people were able to make their living as parking attendants, collecting ‘voluntary’ donations from motorists parking on rough ground outside the zoo.
"It is unlikely that anyone made a fortune, and from 1958 onwards attendants were authorised either by the Downs Committee or, from 1983, the zoo (probably – that is when confusion may have arisen).
“It is not clear when the system of voluntary donations ended: attendants only started wearing uniforms in 1988, when a system of parking stickers was introduced.”
The campaign group found the name of a man, Mr S W Barrett, who supervised parking from 1978.
He reportedly issued parking tickets but made it clear it was unpaid.
Downs for People are trying to trace the man or his relatives to find out more about his time there and about the myth.
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