THE Stroud traffic warden caught up in a viral video had not broken any rules, it has been revealed.

A spokesman for APCOA said: "Our Civil Enforcement Officer is permitted to park in this location whilst conducting his duties."

APCOA are contracted to oversee parking warden services by Gloucestershire County Council.

Jim Daniels, parking manager at GCC, said: “The public asked us to carry out more patrols in Stroud to deal with anti-social parking in the town.

“Our staff have to park in spaces when patrolling and this usually take longer than 30 minutes, especially when monitoring long stay parking.

“Their work makes sure that restrictions are followed, which makes parking easier for residents and visitors alike.”

The county council's parking exemptions include:

A Motor Vehicle in the service of a local authority being necessarily used in connection with highways inspections, parking enforcement, waste collection or street cleansing activities.

In the video – which has been viewed more than 150,000 times on the Student Bible – an angry man claims that the warden has left his own car in the ’30-minute-only’ area in Birches Drive for several hours.

The warden declines to comment.

Hundreds of comments have been posted on the video - many of which defend the warden.

The incident occurred on Friday, December 9.

Watch the video here, http://bit.ly/2gGrDxz