Traffic wardens in Edinburgh have been issued with DNA testing kits to help them to identify angry motorists who spit at them.

The 65 wardens who patrol the city’s “greenway” priority bus routes have been given the kits by Lothian and Borders Police after a number of incidents in which members of the public have spat at their clothes, faces and even the saddles of their scooters.

Each kit, which enables a warden to collect evidence of a spitting attack, contains sterile swabs, rubber gloves, a sealed test tube and an evidence bag.

Having collected a sample, a victim can then hand it over to see if it matches any sample on the police computer base of known offenders. If there is no match, the DNA profile will still be stored and could help to identify a future offender.

In two recent incidents wardens had been spat at in the face, once by a pedestrian and once by a passing cyclist who said “Excuse me” before spitting in the woman warden’s face.

Not all assailants are parking offenders; some are merely members of the public venting vague spleen at an unpopular corps of public servants. Wardens complain that they frequently return to their scooters to find the saddle covered in spit, or remove their jackets at the end of a shift to find they have been similarly assaulted.

This month Bill Wilson, 55, was spat on by a van driver during an altercation in the city’s Gorgie area.

“He came straight up to my face. I thought I was going to be hit so I just swerved out of the way and then he just turned and spat on me. It was totally disgusting; my senior warden had to pick me up off the street and take me to wash the spit off,” Mr Wilson said.

Inspector David Legge, who heads the local force’s traffic warden section, said yesterday: “There are health implications when people are spat on, and it should not be ignored. It is disgusting.”

He said the kits would be stored in all five of the capital’s traffic warden patrol vehicles, which can then be called upon quickly by a warden who has been the subject of an attack. Depending on the circumstances, the warden can then be tested on the spot or taken back to a police station for further examination.

Inspector Legge said: “Even just the thought of being spat upon will sicken and repel most people and nobody should have to work with the fear of this happening to them. Unfortunately, wardens are occasionally confronted by irate drivers or members of the public. We will not accept violence or the threat of such, for carrying out our duties. People who choose to resort to physical means will be pursued.”