civil parking enforcement

Parking and bus lane fine appeals win four times out of 10

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Another example of just how “broken” the whole process of local authorities relying on parking fines to prop up their general expenditure has become. There are some rural authorities in this top 10 list….

Almost half of drivers who challenged parking and bus lane fines issued by local authorities were successful, figures obtained by the BBC suggest.

Four out of 10 appeals to hundreds of councils across the UK over five years led to fines being cancelled.

Motoring group the RAC said the data was “frightening” and showed drivers were “right to appeal.”

The Local Government Association said the figures proved councils had an “effective” appeal process.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that out of almost 4.3 million appeals, 1.8 million succeeded.

They show 84 councils accepted more than half of challenges.

Basingstoke and Deane council overturned fines in 90% of appeals

Funeral car slapped with parking ticket as driver loaded coffin in Lincoln

Now here’s a true tale of what happens when local authorities contract out civil parking enforcement from a street half a mile from our office base.

The stunned driver of a funeral car was hit with a parking ticket as he loaded a coffin into a hearse.

The chauffeur parked the 26ft-long shiny black limousine outside Pat Cook Funeral Services in Lincoln’s Burton Road while he helped colleagues to close the coffin and transfer it to a hearse also parked at the premises.

To his disbelief, when he returned to the limo, the £70 ticket was attached neatly to the windscreen of the six-door car. He peeled it off before going to collect family mourners.

The boss of the firm whose driver found the ticket on Monday, August 17, says he has seen nothing like it in his 12 years in the business.

Motorists reluctant to challenge parking tickets

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Civil Parking enforcement, especially when contracted out to “for profit” intermediary companies doesn’t do public enthusiasm for local authorities any good at all. It often strangles the life from struggling rural retail centres – I have a personal experience of the phenomenon in this context. This article profiles evidence given to the Transport Select Committee by the AA which confirms some of the poor practice used in the name of authorities to collect fines from motorists.

Appearing before the all-party Transport Select Committee, Edmund King, the AA’s president, said in some case the motorists had fallen foul of the parking authorities because of confusing signage about restrictions.

But even though they believed they had a valid case to take to independent adjudicators, motorists were throwing in the towel.

Motorists in London can be fined up to £100, outside the capital the maximum penalty is £70.

Drivers who pay within 14 days are entitled to a 50 per cent reduction. But should they take the case to an adjudicator, the time taken to settle the hearing, means drivers will be hit with the full fine.