The second lesson I learned while patrolling the town centre public space protection order with a joint team of inSwindon BID and Swindon Borough Council staff is that not everyone is pleased to see us.

The first is be prepared for the weather. I was due to meet the group at 3pm. At 2.50pm I was sitting on a bench soaking up the autumnal sun’s rays. At 2.55pm I was desperately huddling under a tree for shelter from a sharp sower. In the 80 minutes or so I spend on patrol there is more rain, warm and bright sunshine, plus quite a chilly wind.

I was with a team of five – Samantha Howell, the head of highways and transport at Euclid Street, Mark Walker, the community programme lead, Lukasz Pepel, a council civil enforcement officer, and Kev Saunders and Roxy Theobald, street officers from inSwindon.

They all assured me that they regularly take part in patrols, and the council hasn’t sent the heavy hitters just out for me.

As we strolled down Regent Street we are greeted with some mockery but, not as you might expect, from teenagers.

Rather a man in his 40s called out: "Hello, hello, hello, citizens on patrol. Here they are, the street police.” He doesn’t seem entirely approving of the council’s new emphasis on enforcing the public space protection order it has in the main shopping centre.

Later, as the team were walking up Commercial Road, one of the boundaries of the PSPO, he rides past on a low sung bicycle cruiser and calls out a little more gentle mockery. And then rides the bike onto the pavement – but just far enough away that he won’t be caught for it.

Samantha said: “Not everyone is happy about us being here – but it’s just part of the job.

“We trying to make the town centre a nicer experience for everyone, and most people, the vast majority, are just wanting to get on with their day. It’s just one or two we might need to speak to.”

Mark adds: “This is very much about trying to get people to change their behaviour. To do better rather than being heavy handed about it.

“Only Lukasz, as a civil enforcement officer, can issue penalty charges, so he can do that for parking offences or things like littering.

“We’d always prefer to speak to people and get them to mend their ways rather than issue a fine – but if someone won’t put it right, if they continue to misbehave, then we have those powers and we’d let Lukasz do that.”

The borough council and its partners at both inSwindon and the police are keen to make Swindon a nice town centre to visit, by getting people to abide by the rules.

To this end there are bigger, more noticeable signs listing the regulations – no cycling, no skateboarding, no begging and no drinking alcohol in the street.

Mark said: “When we stop people and talk to them, they quite often say they don’t know about the rules, there are signs, and repeater notices on lamp posts, but people said they didn’t notice them. So there are bigger A3 signs dotted around, and there are even four A2 A-boards in the centre.

Mark’s words are borne out when he hurries to intercept a young man riding his bike on the pavement near the cenotaph in Regent Square.

The cyclist said: “I didn’t know the rule extended as far as here.” He is happy to chat with Mark and says he will learn his very gentle lesson.

The organisations which provide staff for the patrols don’t have enough for teams on the streets at all times, and Mark said they try to move the days and times for patrols: “We don’t just want to be out at 8am when people expect it – so we move the times around. Not to catch more people out, but so we can talk to people and get them to understand what they should, and shouldn’t be doing.”

Full details of the extended town centre PSPO, which was renewed this year, are available from the council’s website swindon.gov.uk