In my Inbox today... Did you hear the one about the Bristol Zoo Car Park Attendant?

In my inbox today... the apparently true story and 'bit of a wheeze'... concerning a Car Park Attendant at Bristol Zoo.

An email currently circulating, tells the story as follows:

Outside Bristol Zoo, there is a car park for 150 cars and 8 coaches. It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars £1 and coaches £5. This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then one day... he just didn't turn up for work!

"Oh well", said Bristol Zoo Management, "we'd better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant..."

"Err no", said the Council, "that car park is your responsibility"...

"Err no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council... wasn't he?"

"Err NO!"

Sitting in his villa in Spain, is a bloke who had been taking the car park fees, estimated at £400 per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years!!

Assuming 7 days week, this amounts to just over £3.6 million... Fanbloodytastic!!

Nice story huh? Would that it were true! Unfortunately... it isn't!

According to snopes.com, this tale is "purely the stuff of fiction rather than fact".

The Bristol Zoo says it has never experienced any confusion over parking attendants, and that it has several attendants and more than one car park, none open to coaches. Moreover, in response to Snopes.com inquiries about the tale, a Bristol Zoo representative said:

We have had numerous similar enquiries lately but I can assure you that this rumour is not true.

A version of this story also appeared in the Bristol Evening Post back in 2007 but it was as part of a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fool's Day, not as a reporting of a real-life event.

Sad... I'd like it to have been true!

Bristol Zoo

Bristol Zoo Gardens is a 12 acre site in Clifton that is run by the The Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society Ltd.

Awarded ‘Zoo of the Year 2004’ by the Good Britain Guide, Bristol Zoo Gardens has a continuous reputation for excellence, innovation, and dedication to conservation. It’s the fifth oldest zoo in the world and the oldest outside of a capital city, and a long established major tourist attraction in Bristol.

There's no such thing as bad publicity! I bet though... that the carpark attendants at Bristol Zoo these days... are absolutely fed up of being asked... if they work for the Council, the Zoo... or themselves!!