Traffic wardens and wheel clampers rewarded with Champagne and scantily-clad dancers

There won't be many lavish couture gowns or a red carpet media scrum. And the winner of the Parking Person of the Year award is unlikely to make a tearful acceptance speech.

So it is fair to say that the British Parking Awards will not be outshining the Oscars any time soon.

However, the ceremony on Friday will offer 500 traffic wardens, wheel clampers and other leading figures from Britain's least favourite industry a four-course gala lunch at one of London's top hotels.

They will be treated to scantily-dressed can-can dancers and a Champagne reception, before tasteful glass statuettes and certificates are given out.

Scroll down for more...

However, the ceremony to crown the Best New Car Park – a nail-biting race between Milton Keynes hospital and the Spinningfields commercial estate in Manchester – and other winners is not without controversy.

Consumer campaigners said yesterday the ceremony should be called off because the parking industry has nothing to be proud of.

In the last year, councils in England and Wales have handed out nearly four million parking tickets, as well as clamping and towing away countless cars.

In doing so, they have generated profits of more than £350million.

Brian Gregory of the Association of British Drivers said: "Many parking regimes are illegal. Local authorities know it but do nothing about it.

"The only thing the parking industry has to celebrate is the amount of money it has managed to make."

The £50,000 event at the Dorchester Hotel is sponsored by private-sector firms such as debt collection agency Equita.

At £99 each, the tickets to "the foremost event in the UK parking calendar" sold out weeks ago.

A spokesman for the ceremony said: "Many local councils view the awards as an appropriate way of rewarding their most hard-working employees."