Parking ticket error row
EDP24
SHAUN LOWTHORPE
26 August 2006 08:30
Thousands of motorists have been slapped with “illegal” parking fines in Norwich, it emerged last night after the city council admitted its tickets did not conform to the rules.
Norwich City Council yesterday conceded it had been forced to change its system for handing out parking tickets after failing to show the dates of issue and offence on them.
City Hall insisted that drivers who have paid up stood little chance of getting their money back as the error was a technicality and they had already acknowledged their guilt.
But it faces a possible legal challenge and a referral to the district auditor from campaigners who insist the authority should pay up.
The council took action after receiving guidance from the National Parking Adjudication Service on August 14 after a high court hearing indicated that failure to state clearly the date a ticket was issued and the date of the offence meant the ticket was void.
Last night one legal expert predicted the move could pave the way for a legal challenge against the council.
But the situation remains in limbo until the written judgment is produced next month.
Traffic wardens issued 35,549 penalty charge notices (PCNs) in the city between April 1 2005 to March 2006.
The council made a £320,000 profit in 2004/05 which was ploughed back to Norfolk County Council and used to fund road works and improvements in the Norwich area.
A city council spokesman last night admitted that the authority had changed its system. But council lawyers still believes that the issue is a technicality and are waiting on the written ruling to clarify the situation.
“On 14 August we were informed by the National Parking Adjudication Service of the potential consequences of the judicial review against the London Borough of Barnet,” she said. “The final judgement has not yet been published.“Norwich City Council's penalty charge notice, in common with many other councils in the country, did not show a date of issue and a date of offence. Although in our case these would be the same.
“While we wait for clarification of what the judgment means we have temporarily changed our system to show both dates. This does not mean that people who failed to comply with parking regulations are entitled to a refund. They have accepted that they were at fault and have paid their penalty.”
Neil Herron, a campaigner from the People's No Campaign an offshoot of the Metric Martyrs, which is pursuing the parking issue, with City Hall, said the council must drop any action it is currently taking against people issued with the flawed tickets.“What they have got to do is create a 'year zero' from when they can enforce the correctly worded tickets,” he said. “They can't legally pursue anybody who has been issued with an unlawful ticket. And that also includes anybody who has yet to pay or who is going through the appeals procedure.”
Mr Herron has submitted a detailed freedom of information request to City Hall asking if the authority will suspend enforcement and detail how many people have been issued with the wrong tickets and how much money was raised. He said a similar tough line in Sunderland saw the council hand back £60,000.“You can't have a local authority saying it has put its house in order and everything is fine, because it isn't. If they don't suspend enforcement and continue to take the money we will put in a complaint to the district auditor,” he added.
Simon Nicholls, solicitor at Belmores, said: “Potentially this could mean that the parking tickets issued could be challenged. It just depends if someone wants to go to court over a £30 fine.”
After the ruling councils in London were given guidance from the Association of London Government on August 9 telling to them to make sure their tickets complies to the correct format “as a matter of urgency”.
But it said that councils “do not need to refund any payments already made. The adjudicators have already considered, and rejected a bid to re-open any previously closed cases on the issue.”
A spokeswoman at Barnet Council which took the case to the case to the High Court, said much of the problem lays with the lack of clarity in the Road Traffic Act giving councils the power to issue parking fines“If people have paid the penalty charge they have accepted that they were in the wrong,” she said.
SHAUN LOWTHORPE
26 August 2006 08:30
Thousands of motorists have been slapped with “illegal” parking fines in Norwich, it emerged last night after the city council admitted its tickets did not conform to the rules.
Norwich City Council yesterday conceded it had been forced to change its system for handing out parking tickets after failing to show the dates of issue and offence on them.
City Hall insisted that drivers who have paid up stood little chance of getting their money back as the error was a technicality and they had already acknowledged their guilt.
But it faces a possible legal challenge and a referral to the district auditor from campaigners who insist the authority should pay up.
The council took action after receiving guidance from the National Parking Adjudication Service on August 14 after a high court hearing indicated that failure to state clearly the date a ticket was issued and the date of the offence meant the ticket was void.
Last night one legal expert predicted the move could pave the way for a legal challenge against the council.
But the situation remains in limbo until the written judgment is produced next month.
Traffic wardens issued 35,549 penalty charge notices (PCNs) in the city between April 1 2005 to March 2006.
The council made a £320,000 profit in 2004/05 which was ploughed back to Norfolk County Council and used to fund road works and improvements in the Norwich area.
A city council spokesman last night admitted that the authority had changed its system. But council lawyers still believes that the issue is a technicality and are waiting on the written ruling to clarify the situation.
“On 14 August we were informed by the National Parking Adjudication Service of the potential consequences of the judicial review against the London Borough of Barnet,” she said. “The final judgement has not yet been published.“Norwich City Council's penalty charge notice, in common with many other councils in the country, did not show a date of issue and a date of offence. Although in our case these would be the same.
“While we wait for clarification of what the judgment means we have temporarily changed our system to show both dates. This does not mean that people who failed to comply with parking regulations are entitled to a refund. They have accepted that they were at fault and have paid their penalty.”
Neil Herron, a campaigner from the People's No Campaign an offshoot of the Metric Martyrs, which is pursuing the parking issue, with City Hall, said the council must drop any action it is currently taking against people issued with the flawed tickets.“What they have got to do is create a 'year zero' from when they can enforce the correctly worded tickets,” he said. “They can't legally pursue anybody who has been issued with an unlawful ticket. And that also includes anybody who has yet to pay or who is going through the appeals procedure.”
Mr Herron has submitted a detailed freedom of information request to City Hall asking if the authority will suspend enforcement and detail how many people have been issued with the wrong tickets and how much money was raised. He said a similar tough line in Sunderland saw the council hand back £60,000.“You can't have a local authority saying it has put its house in order and everything is fine, because it isn't. If they don't suspend enforcement and continue to take the money we will put in a complaint to the district auditor,” he added.
Simon Nicholls, solicitor at Belmores, said: “Potentially this could mean that the parking tickets issued could be challenged. It just depends if someone wants to go to court over a £30 fine.”
After the ruling councils in London were given guidance from the Association of London Government on August 9 telling to them to make sure their tickets complies to the correct format “as a matter of urgency”.
But it said that councils “do not need to refund any payments already made. The adjudicators have already considered, and rejected a bid to re-open any previously closed cases on the issue.”
A spokeswoman at Barnet Council which took the case to the case to the High Court, said much of the problem lays with the lack of clarity in the Road Traffic Act giving councils the power to issue parking fines“If people have paid the penalty charge they have accepted that they were in the wrong,” she said.
posted by Neil Herron at 12:11 PM
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