Parking fines: the new council tax?

Alex Henney, who wants a judicial review of parking fines in Camden, north London, on the basis that they breach his human rights, gets all my sympathy.

I have been slapped with scores of parking tickets over the past few years and the total charge would have been almost as much as my council tax bill – had I not appealed against many of the fines and won.

And, before you say that I should not have parked illegally, I didn't. A couple of years ago, I received a fine at 5am on a Sunday morning while my car was parked outside my flat in north London. At that time, there were no parking restrictions at all. I appealed and won.

This incident shows up the flaws in the system. Often, wardens must meet targets to boost their pay – so much so that they are prepared to get up in the early hours to slap motorists with "penalty charge notices" in their helpful plastic pouches.

On another occasion, outside the same flat, council workers lifted my car to paint yellow lines underneath and put it back down again, after which I promptly received a ticket.

And, in another incident, the car broke down in Hammersmith & Fulham and I was forced to leave it in a side street overnight until the breakdown services could come out. Again, I got a penalty charge notice – and again, I appealed successfully.

What really angers me, and many others, is that local authorities are increasingly using parking fines as an alternative council tax. The number of fines soared by 71% to 8 million between 1997 and 2004 – one for every three cars – netting councils more than £1 billion a year in fines and charges.

It will perhaps come as no surprise that I live in Hackney, which has one of the worst records when it comes to collecting unpaid council tax.

Parking restrictions pervade almost every aspect of my life in the borough. I have to pay hundreds of pounds a year to park outside my own house. Visitors also require a permit, and there is no mercy for those who forget, even for a few minutes, because wardens are almost constantly on the prowl.

And I have to pay to park at my local leisure centre, a favourite hunting ground for local wardens. Recently, I got a ticket because my permit had fallen out of view. My appeal failed this time, even though I could prove that I had a valid permit.

However, it is always worth appealing against parking fines. Nearly two thirds of appeals are successful, according to the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS). Two councils – Islington and Trafford – lose more than 90% of appeals. What more proof do we need that there is something wrong with the system?

You must first complain to the council about a parking ticket. Do so within 14 days if you wish to preserve the right to pay at a discounted rate.

If the council rejects your claim, you will receive a "Notice to Owner" form, which enables you to make formal representations against the council. If these are rejected, you can go to the NPAS.

Finally, many people will argue that parking fines are a useful weapon in reducing our dependence on cars. I use public transport as much as possible, but, as high house prices have forced me to buy further away from the Tube system, a car makes my life that little bit easier – until my next parking fine, that is.

Comments

[Air Bag]

Good site I found...Plan on coming back later.

[Onajite Udje]

I am a parking attendant working with NCP for Kensington and Chelsea. And recently i was told i was going to face disciplinary and dismissal if i failed to meet their targets, despite the fact that they failed to inform me during my recruitment that they were target driven.
I`ve seen how, through the fear of getting dismissed or not been allowed to work over time, some of my colleagues are compelled to issue unnecessary and illegal parking fines. targets should be abolished and parking attendants should be allowed to use their discretion when making enforcements.

[Verity Briggs]

My boyfriend and I were in Nottingham city centre today and parked the car legally on a side street and obtained a correct ticket. After returning 45 minutes BEFORE required time limit we found a fine awaiting us stating failure to display ticket!!!! We are fuming , the ticket was blatantly on the dash board , the warden had obviously not bothered to even look if we had one probably in such a rush to meet his daily quota (as it was 4.45pm) the system is pathetic as no longer satisfied with ticketing illegally parked vehicles they are increasing their revenue by fining those of us who are in fact legally parked. Obviously appeal letter is being written as im typing this.

[Gavin]

The problem seems as stated in the main article that the Councils are using this as a cash cow. So why not Fine them 9 the council) 10x the cost of a parking ticket - money say to a mobility charity - for each one that wins an appeal. That way if over 10% are sucessfully appealed they will start loosing money. That would make them make sure that any issued were totally legitimate

[Jane Hodder]

Whenever we are in the Nottingham city centre we are constantly clock watching so we don't get a fine which is difficult when you have young children with feeding and loo requirements. Every few hundred yards you bump into a warden (no exaggeration). We recently went down to Poole and it was such a refreshing changwe as we didn't spot one warden. It seems to me Nottingham council are definately on the war path to raise as much revenue as possible

[Stewart Geddes]

Having targets for the number of tickets issued was always going to drive the wrong behaviours. The problem with wrongly issued tickets is that the cost and inconvenience often does not justify the effort. What should be introduced is a compensation scheme whereby the parking enforcement company pays to a successful appellant twice the fine, plus a refund of the original fine and any costs incurred. This regime would ensure that only legitimate tickets would be issued.

[Casie McDonald Wood]

England is famous for its "unwritten constitution". However, this is not entirely the case and one of the most important written constitutional documents is the 1689 The Bill of Rights.

In part this reads: "All grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void."

The Laws passed in 1991 allowing local authorities to take control of parking enforcement from the police effectively de-criminalised parking violations.

It would appear, therefore, that issuing parking fines (or any other fines) is illegal as one cannot be convicted of parking violations because they are not criminal offences.

[Anon]

I got a parking ticket in Southampton. In a large car park only one ticket machine was working out of four. By the time I had walked around the whole car park, queued with out car park users to buy a ticket, purchased a ticket and returned to the car I had been fined. Appeal declined.

[Allan Morton]

I am an Australian who visited London last year for my daughter's wedding. Having boosted the UK economy with an extortionate payment for said wedding I arrived at Heathrow with my family very early in the morning, picked up my rented car and headed for Clapham and my daughter and son-in-law's house.

I arrived out the front at 7:57am to be met by a frantic son-in-law holding a parking permit in his hand saying "fill this in and put it on the dashboard quickly!" I admit I was non-plussed. I said to him that I would unload the bags first. He said no, I would be fined. I looked up the road to where he pointed and there lurking (and I mean that in its true sense)was a parking officer. Welcome to London.

Two days later I put the day's parking form on the dashboard but apparently forgot to mark out the year: 50 pounds bang! My son-in-law the same day got a 100 pound fine for not paying a fine within 14 days for going through London.

As a visitor I have to say that with all the fines and CCTV cameras the UK has become an unwelcoming place. I think of it, to use a motoring analogy, as similar to when the car's shock absorbers are breaking down. As the driver of the car you take a long time to notice and the damages are huge by the time you do.

When I expressed to Londoners how could you put up with the fines and the congestion tax and the appalling tube system I was generally met with incomprehension. It's gone a long way folks and you need to do something about it before the damage becomes irreparable.

[Anne Whitehead]

I was recently fined when I parked my Mini quickly in an almost empty multi story carpark so that I coulsd attend a pre booked appointment for a blood donation session. I received the fine because my wheels were over the line, ie not exactly between the designated lines! I have appealed, but no reply as yet

[Maurice hope]

Over the past 10 years of historic non achievement, this government has recieved tens of billions of pounds through various taxes from ever suffering motorists. Could somebody please tell me how much of this massive amount of money has been spent on new parking facilities and new roads.

[Terry Stock]

Stratford on Avon council are guilty as well. You pay upfront in their car parks, not when you leave which would be the sensible option. If you are a few minutes late returning to your car you get a penalty ticket for £60.00. There is no leeway.

This happened to me in December 2004 and I have not returned to Stratford since. Prior to this I spent money with local retailers every three months or so. Local retailers must be losing out so vote with your feet. Councils also lose out through their greed as local retailers eventually go out of business.

[S Black]

I couldn't believe I'd got a ticket when I got back to my works van, which I'd nipped to the post office in to drop off a parcel as a favour for work. Check the photo on the web address http://www.soulsell.co.uk/AXION%20VAN%20times.JPG
- as McEnroe would have said - it was on the line! A chap standing there waiting for his wife, told me the parking attendant had waited for 2 minutes and then left a ticket - I was gone for 5. When I checked the ticket it said the attendant had waited for 5 minutes! I therefore lodged an appeal - we'll wait and see!

[Heather Dodge]

My children's school is in Camden, not only am I not allowed a parking permit by the council but they add insult to injury by providing just 2 meter spaces outside the school whilst there are some 20 spaces for residents permit holders that are never utilised.

This wholly inadequate provision means that I am frequently left with no alternative but to park illegally. Why can't they provide the possibility of using the residents spaces for meter parking too? This would generate more money for (and goodwill towards) the Council as they would receive more willingly paid parking fees through meter charges or is it just me that thinks they believe they can generate more through Penalty charges? Call me a cynic if you like.

[Frank Upton]

It's strange how nobody is ever fairly given a parking ticket - just as Manchester United are never fairly beaten. Perhaps this is because wardens do not tackle the danegrous and obstructive guerilla parking that goes on all the time, and only go for soft targets? Or is it just that I tend to think that the rules apply to everyone else, but I am a special case?

[Janes Simons]

Why, oh why, do we let our councils get away with this legalised extortion? They are our elected representatives after all. This should be made an election issue. There is no harm in sensible parking restrictions enforced with fines as long as common sense is employed but the current arrangements are far from it. Clamping a car in a residential street where there is not through traffic simply stops other people from using that space. The only reason clamps are used is because people have to pay the excessive fine up front.

Using parking enforcement to raise revenue for cash-strapped councils is not in itself a bad idea if only there was reasonableness in the system. Everyone should write to their councillors saying they will take their votes elsewhere unless their local council make parking enforcement proportionate.