Feb 2010 02

It's payback time6

Back in October the TPA released the first ever report of the total raised in nationwide parking fines. The report was met with much media attention and interest from the public and this was hardly surprising; with so many drivers throughout the UK, many have inevitably been hit with a parking fine. With £328 million raised in fines in 2008-09, parking penalties are a lucrative source of income for councils throughout the UK, however one looks at it.

The idea that parking fines are used as a source of revenue was quickly refuted by some – mainly councils themselves – who argued that if people parked safely and legally parking fines would not occur. Fair point. However, delve in to the figures a little further and you begin to see some worrying trends. For example, Newcastle raised 4 times as much as neighbouring Sunderland – despite having similar daytime populations. This strongly suggests that differences in parking enforcement systems leads to vast differences in fine revenue.

And revelations from a BBC investigation yesterday that five London councils have operated unlawful parking bays adds clout to the argument that parking enforcement systems can be manipulated and altered to extract yet more money from motorists.

Five London councils – Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Islington and City of London – may be forced to repay three decades worth of illegal parking fines. It was revealed that road signs were placed in parking bays reserved for foreign embassy staff; illegal unless permission is granted beforehand from the secretary of state for transport. The councils have admitted they did not have proper permission from government and the signs installed were therefore classed as “illegal obstructions of the highway”, according to the Town and Country Planning Act.

Incidentally, four out of five of these councils – Westminster, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden – obtain the most revenue from parking fines out of all the London boroughs. In fact nearly all of them make it into the top 10 councils with highest levels of parking fines in the UK.

Diplomatic bays with specific legislation attached to them are exclusive to these London boroughs, so they may argue that these illegal fines are just an oversight. But these councils often cite their unique demographics and circumstances – “we have high levels of tourists, therefore fines are high” – as reasons for exceedingly high fines.

But the revelations from the BBC may just confirm long held suspicions that over-complicated and hawkish forms of parking enforcement are designed in such a way to make as much money as possible. If these Councils have such “unique” circumstances, surely they should be especially aware of the legislation to which they have to adhere?

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  • Hardeep Singh

    It will be a cold day in hell before any of these councils refund any of this money. They initially extracted the money through scheming and unfair practices and I doubt they’ll admit to fairplay now.
    If it were the other way round and some poor business struggling in these lean times had missed a payment or become late in paying their council, there would be a nasty punishment in store! There would be no judicial process afforded to them nor any room for argument, just pay or else!

  • James Rowling

    Since when was a parking fine a tax?

  • Hardeep Singh

    When it’s used to fund local authorities. Motorists are simply targeted fincially.

  • Iain Sharpe

    So what it is TPA’s logical position on this? That everyone should have a right to park anywhere they want for free on the public highway? Including the fast lane of the M1, in the middle of a busy crossroads or on a dangerous junction? In which case that’s at least a logical position if a silly one. Park wherever you like at any time regardless of inconvenience to other motorists, safety etc.
    Or does it accept that there are some places where parking should not be permitted? If so it presumably must accept that there needs to be some manner of enforcing this. In which case fines seem the best option (and least cost to the taxpayer) cheaper than imprisonment, for example.
    Likewise are the TPA arguing that Sunderland and Newcastle should be obliged to give out the same level of parking fines? In which case how exactly do you arrange that? Or perhaps the whole of parking enforcement should be organised by a central bureaucracy in Whitehall setting quotas for each local authority area and sending out armies of inspectors to make sure they conform exactly to central dictat. And would that be cheaper for the taxpayer.
    Perhaps it’s just the case that some areas have different problems that require different solutions. Sunderland and Newcastle are after all not carbon copies of one another.

  • eileen pohl and alan broomhead

    neath and port talbot in south wales blackmail motorists as follows,if you pay
    your parking ticket immediately it costs £30
    but you cant appeal.if you delay payment by
    lodging an appeal and it is unsuccessful,the
    fine doubles to£60,if this is not a brazen
    and unfair practice i dont know what is.
    people should be allowed to appeal before
    having to pay this exorbitant amount.my pleas that i have prostrate cancer,and had to leave my car to get to a toilet quickly,
    fell on deaf ears,i was disgusted with them.

  • Terence Griffin

    Government itself has no idea how to deal with the problem of parking. Local authorities are given guidelines which they have some flexibility in applying, thus the variations.
    The problem exists because of the endlessly growing volume of motor cars, and the woeful lack of public transport particularly in rural areas.
    Rural commuters travel into big cities by car because there is no alternative.
    The sources of revenue thus raised in the form of fuel duty, parking fines, congestion charges etc. are so huge that profligate government has little choice.
    Adequate roads, car parking and public transport equals revenue spent. The present chaos equals revenue generated. Inaction is the order of the day.