The barbecue warden is seen here with a colleague patrolling the park in his buggy, ensuring that no one attempts to have a barbecue. Some may have forgotten what a scourge barbeques were until 2010, when Labour took control of the council and began to enforce the bylaw prohibiting barbeques. Prior to that, in fine weather, there were hundreds of barbeques every day, with the attendant mess having to be cleared the next day by parks staff. It usually took them all morning. Left behind were scorched grass and quite often, the remains of large bonfires which had been fuelled by branches torn from trees and park benches. In 2008, the fire brigade were called out over fifty times at a total cost of more than £100k to extinguish fires caused by poorly disposed-of barbeques.