TRAFFIC wardens have voted to go on strike - meaning Brighton and Hove could be treated to two days of free parking.

The city's 74 parking enforcement officers voted unanimously to strike and could walk out this Saturday and Sunday, leaving a parking free for Christmas shoppers.

Brighton and Hove's traffic wardens work 365 days a year - not even putting down their ticket books on Christmas Day.

Business leaders and parking campaigners greeted the possibility of an unofficial parking amnesty over the Christmas shopping period as “brilliant news."

It would be the first time wardens in the city have been on strike in more than ten years.

GMB member's voted unanimously in favour of strike action after bosses refused a demand for a four per cent pay hike, while inflation currently stands at negative 0.1 per cent.

Union officials said the strike would begin this Saturday, unless employers NSL - who run on street parking on behalf of Brighton and Hove City Council - improve a pay offer of one per cent currently on the table.

Adam Chinery, spokesman for the Seafront Business Association, said: “I think it would be brilliant for business if everyone knew about it, I think a lot of the businesses in Brighton would benefit.”

He called for official free parking days around Christmas, adding: “The council makes vast amounts of money from parking and the ones who suffer are the businesses.”

“They get above minimum wage but I’d have thought you’d get more, because it is a job in which you’d meet some hostility.”

Last year the council netted £16.7million from parking fines, charges, permits and blue badges, which included the money raised from over 122,000 parking fines handed out by wardens at a rate of over 4 per minute.

It was the greatest number issued since standardised annual reporting began in 2009, although less than historic highs of 170,000 or more.

Steve Percy, who runs the People’s Parking Protest movement, said: “While they’re on strike it’d be to the motorists’ benefit, although people should still behave responsibly.”

He added that while people would have the opportunity to park in marked bays on the seafront without paying charges of £3.50 per hour, they should still avoid parking on double yellow lines or anywhere their vehicles could obstruct emergency services.

Charles Harrity, senior organiser for the GMB union, explained that wardens’ pay had not kept pace with compound inflation over recent years, despite annual increases of one or one and a half per cent.

Explaining that wardens felt angry with how employers NSL - who run on-street parking on behalf of Brighton and Hove City Council - have handled the negotiations, Mr Harrity said of his members: “They play a vital role in keeping Brighton moving and they do it in all weathers, 365 days a year.”

Wardens are currently paid £7.85 per hour and do not receive bonuses for the number of tickets they issue.