Stephen Hardy, head of parking leaves Richmond Borough Council.

Head of Parking, Stephen Hardy, The man responsible for the "Fair Parking Policy" across Hampton, Teddington and Richmond is leaving his job."

He was known as "The man with the Hat" because of his collection of trilbies.

Stephen Hardy was brought in last summer to revolutionise the boroughs parking services in order to reduce the amount of complaints. 

He introduced the Fair Parking policy in October 2011, which changed the rules of Pay and Display services, and introduced free parking discounts.

The move as a whole encouraged residents to shop locally, boosting the borough's economy.  

Another element of the Fair Parking policy was also the re-training of Civil Enforcement Officers who were told to give drivers who might commit a parking offence advice and warnings.

The Officers were also trained to give basic tourist and travel advice to people on the streets.

A number of roads marked with yellow lines has also been reduced. 

Lord True, Leader of Richmond Council said: "Given the huge amount of change to parking provision in which we were planning, Stephen was brought in to help us implement the new policy given his breadth of experience. 

Stephen has now returned to his home full-time in Scotland where he intends to have a "wee break" while looking for his next assignment.

The new Head of Parking Services is James Marshall who has 15 years experience in the management of parking enforcement and hopes to continue Stephen's good work and achieve the fairest approach to parking possible.