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No quibble drivers pay parking fines
2/ 1/2008
A STUDY by consumer magazine Which has found that Stockport motorists are happy to stump up their hard earned cash when they commit motoring offences.
The study by the magazine was carried out to discover what line local authorities took when alleged offenders appealed the penalty. Its finding showed most councils did not contest repeated challenges against the penalties by motorists.
For example in 2005 more than 60 percent of parking fine appeals in three London boroughs were won uncontested. It found that in Scotland 70 percent of appellants won their case in 2006-2007.
Approximately eight million parking tickets were issued in 2005 across England and Wales and of these nine, 449 were challenged and 57 percent of them were won by motorists. However, in Stockport the local authority did not receive a single appeal despite posting 23,000 tickets on vehicles.
A spokesman for Stockport Council said the authority took over parking enforcement from Greater Manchester Police in April 2005 and for the remaining 10 months the council had been able to resolve appeals to penalty charge notices in-house.
"By consolidating parking enforcement the Council has been able to provide an improved and more efficient service," he said. "Our parking attendants do not have targets or quotas to meet but help to keep Stockport moving and improve road safety by keeping the roads clear of illegally parked cars.
"Our appeal system is clear but rigorous and we always carefully consider any appeals put to the Council. Where possible we try and resolve the issue in-house, which helps to minimise the numbers of appeals going to the parking adjudicator.
Jim McMahon, service director for transportation and planning added: "We knew that taking on parking enforcement from the police would be a big task. Which is why we spent time planning a comprehensive strategy that would guide our approach to enforcement and ensure that the changes were communicated widely to the public via leaflets to residents and through the local media.
"We’ve worked hard to make the service run as smoothly as possible and to ensure that those motorists who receive a penalty charge Notice are treated fairly. We do not take a soft approach to illegal parking but believe that most issues can be resolved in-house."
Consumer rights group Appeal Now said councils across the country offered no evidence in 50 percent of cases, showing they would rather cancel tickets than continue disputes.
Most recent 2 of 3 user comments
I am a blue badge holder and yes what relly cheeses me off is when you find young healthy people using disabled parking bays whilst they go to cash points. Those type of motorists ought to be booked as it stops genuine people such as my self who need the blue badge from parking up!
7/01/2008 at 20:07
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