Overhaul of parking regulations urged

ITV
22 June 06


Plans are being published next month to scrap targets for traffic wardens and to extend the grace period before a car is clamped to an hour



Local councils have been accused of targeting innocent motorists with heavy-handed parking regulations to rake in cash.
The all-party Transport Select Committee will recommend the introduction of a single, nationally-applied system to regulate traffic wardens.
It is in a bid to defuse growing resentment from drivers. The committee has heard evidence that up to a fifth of tickets are cancelled after complaints from motorists.
The proposals will recommend a two-tier fines system so there will be lesser charges for overstaying a few minutes on a meter than for more serious breaches, such as blocking an emergency exit, for example.
And plans are being published next month to scrap targets for traffic wardens and to extend the grace period before a car is clamped to an hour.
Among the more bizarre parking enforcement incidents were a hearse being ticketed during a funeral, a bus at a bus stop getting a ticket and a ticket affixed to a lorry while the driver lay dead inside from a heart attack.