A popular Police Community Support Officer has finally hung up his uniform after spending more than 36 years with Nottinghamshire Police.

PCSO Paul Park, a well-known figure on his regular beat in the Eakring area of Mansfield, joined the force as a traffic warden in 1985.

It was while he was working as a bus conductor that his wife had suggested he apply for the job.

However, as Paul, 66, revealed, his Nottinghamshire Police career was very nearly over before it began.

“In those days traffic wardens were part of the police, so off I went to the old Central Police Station in Nottingham for my interview… which ended after about 10 minutes when I was told I had failed my eye test,” he said.

“But a week later I got a letter telling me they had made a mistake and assumed I was applying to become a police officer. It turned out I didn’t need the eye test as a traffic warden so my second interview went a lot better.

“I had done loads of different jobs since leaving school at the age of 15, but being a traffic warden was a perfect fit for me. Obviously, you don’t always make a lot of friends when you’re handing out tickets, but it was actually that interaction with other people that I enjoyed about the job.

“Of course, I did get a bit of ‘aggro’ from time to time, but ultimately I was always fair with people if they were fair with me. I didn’t see the job as handing out tickets — I saw it as working with people to keep the traffic moving.”

Paul became a PCSO in 2005 when traffic wardens became the responsibility of local councils.

His new community policing role came with new powers, but fundamentally depended on his same well-honed people skills, discretion and old-fashioned life-experience.

“For me it has always been about helping people and trying to solve their problems – and to do that effectively I think you need to a real people person and know how to connect with the public,” added Paul.

“We regularly come across people who are angry or distressed or really at the lowest point in their lives because of something that has happened to them. Being able to help that person in that moment is important to me.”

Police Community Support Officers work alongside police officers to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. Although they do not have powers of arrest they do have the power to detain people when necessary, and can issue fixed penalty notices.

Inspector Nick Butler, district commander for Mansfield, said: “Paul has always approached neighbourhood policing in exactly the right way – with the victims of crime uppermost in his thoughts. We will greatly miss his wisdom, his humour and his friendship and wish him all the very best of luck in the future.”