Huge profit from council parking fines
Barnet and Potters Bar Times
Barnet Council made more than £4 million profit from parking fines and fees last year, figures have revealed.
Out of the £9.5 million income in 2004-05, £5m was from penalty charge notices issued by parking attendants and £615,000 was received from drivers illegally using bus lanes.
The council also received £875,000 from parking permits and more than £2 million from pay-and-display machines.
More than £8m was invested into travel schemes including free bus passes for the elderly and disabled, while £5.8m was filtered into highways improvements.
Cabinet member for environment and transport, Councillor Matthew Offord, said: "The law states that these services are some of those on which parking surplus must be spent, and clearly we invested more than was made.
"Investment on this scale, without using parking revenue, would only be possible if it was taken solely from the council tax.
"Parking is not a money-making exercise for the council, in fact we are forbidden to do this by law. This year we have actually reduced our projected parking income by £1.2m which is a result of our customer-focussed parking review.
"We are well aware that the improvements we have made to create a fairer system for the motorist will result in less income, particularly giving pay-and-display users a five-minute grace period."
Councillor Alison Moore, leader of Barnet Labour Group, said: "They Barnet Council have made a lot of money though not as much as they would have liked to have made. I've had numerous case work from residents where traffic wardens have abused their powers and residents have had to fight for justice.
"The Conservative administration have pinned their whole budget over the last two years on the amount of money they get through parking fines and residents have come to feel that it's more about generating income for the council than actually dealing with genuine traffic or parking problems"
One such resident, Abel Westerhof, 41, from Garratt Road, Edgware, said: "It's okay to issue fines to those who are illegally parked, but so many tickets are issued unfairly and that's what I have a problem with.
"In my road, we pay a lot of money for permits every year, but have still been duped for ridiculous reasons on numerous occasions."
In April, a new set of measures was introduced by the council's parking service, including freezing residents' parking permit charges until April 2008; a review of all existing controlled parking zones; and a five-minute grace period for pay-and-display users after the expiry of a ticket.
Households buying a parking permit will also be given five free visitor vouchers and parking attendants will now wait and make observations for at least five minutes to check if a delivery vehicle parked on a double or single yellow line is loading or unloading.
u Figures released yesterday by the Association of London Government show Barnet Council issued a total of 202,098 penalty charge notices between March 2005 and April this year, compared to 172,344 tickets in the previous 12 months.
Included in this year's figure were 33,417 tickets issued to people for driving in bus lanes, the fifth highest total in London.
6:15pm Thursday 31st August 2006
Barnet Council made more than £4 million profit from parking fines and fees last year, figures have revealed.
Out of the £9.5 million income in 2004-05, £5m was from penalty charge notices issued by parking attendants and £615,000 was received from drivers illegally using bus lanes.
The council also received £875,000 from parking permits and more than £2 million from pay-and-display machines.
More than £8m was invested into travel schemes including free bus passes for the elderly and disabled, while £5.8m was filtered into highways improvements.
Cabinet member for environment and transport, Councillor Matthew Offord, said: "The law states that these services are some of those on which parking surplus must be spent, and clearly we invested more than was made.
"Investment on this scale, without using parking revenue, would only be possible if it was taken solely from the council tax.
"Parking is not a money-making exercise for the council, in fact we are forbidden to do this by law. This year we have actually reduced our projected parking income by £1.2m which is a result of our customer-focussed parking review.
"We are well aware that the improvements we have made to create a fairer system for the motorist will result in less income, particularly giving pay-and-display users a five-minute grace period."
Councillor Alison Moore, leader of Barnet Labour Group, said: "They Barnet Council have made a lot of money though not as much as they would have liked to have made. I've had numerous case work from residents where traffic wardens have abused their powers and residents have had to fight for justice.
"The Conservative administration have pinned their whole budget over the last two years on the amount of money they get through parking fines and residents have come to feel that it's more about generating income for the council than actually dealing with genuine traffic or parking problems"
One such resident, Abel Westerhof, 41, from Garratt Road, Edgware, said: "It's okay to issue fines to those who are illegally parked, but so many tickets are issued unfairly and that's what I have a problem with.
"In my road, we pay a lot of money for permits every year, but have still been duped for ridiculous reasons on numerous occasions."
In April, a new set of measures was introduced by the council's parking service, including freezing residents' parking permit charges until April 2008; a review of all existing controlled parking zones; and a five-minute grace period for pay-and-display users after the expiry of a ticket.
Households buying a parking permit will also be given five free visitor vouchers and parking attendants will now wait and make observations for at least five minutes to check if a delivery vehicle parked on a double or single yellow line is loading or unloading.
u Figures released yesterday by the Association of London Government show Barnet Council issued a total of 202,098 penalty charge notices between March 2005 and April this year, compared to 172,344 tickets in the previous 12 months.
Included in this year's figure were 33,417 tickets issued to people for driving in bus lanes, the fifth highest total in London.
6:15pm Thursday 31st August 2006
posted by Neil Herron at 10:29 AM
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