Fine figures rise is parking mad
Your Local Guardian
By Cara Lee
More than a quarter of a million parking tickets were slapped on windscreens in Lambeth
last year.
The 255,066 parking tickets issued last year mean Lambeth ranks fifth in the league of London boroughs which handed out the highest number of fines and shows a marked increase of 12,000 tickets compared with the previous year, which resulted in an average of 700 tickets issued each day.
The figures published by the Association of London Government also reveal that 10,824 fines were given to drivers who either parked or drove in the Norwood Road bus lane last year, making it the seventh most heavily fined lane in the capital.
Complaints about the volume of parking fines given out in Lambeth began when the previous Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition council signed a contract with US company Control Plus.
The contract was rumoured to include targets for traffic wardens to issue at least 12 tickets per eight hour shift.
Shirley Wilson, from Lewin Road in Streatham, is fed up with the lack of parking on her road which has resulted in fines.
She said: "A man was recently delivering medical supplies for the clinic in my road and was forced to double park due to the lack of spaces.
"He was given a ticket, despite constantly telling the warden he would only be a minute. I was then told that even if a police car had double parked it would receive a ticket."
Councillor Nigel Haselden, deputy cabinet member for transport and parking, added: "These figures bear out what we have been saying all along about the unfair parking contract signed by the previous Liberal Democrat/Conservative coalition and is one of the major reasons that voters kicked them out at the last election."
Motoring experts have criticised the growth in parking fines across London in general, which rose to a record high of six million tickets last year.
They have particularly condemned the increase in penalties given for moving traffic offences such as blocking yellow box junctions or ignoring one-way signs.
Paul Watters from the AA Motoring Trust said: "Moving traffic offences are becoming the goldmine that parking once was. The increase in fines suggests that in some cases the road layout is wrong, causing confusion and difficulty for drivers. We would urge anyone getting a fine to appeal."
10:55am Sunday 17th September 2006
By Cara Lee
More than a quarter of a million parking tickets were slapped on windscreens in Lambeth
last year.The 255,066 parking tickets issued last year mean Lambeth ranks fifth in the league of London boroughs which handed out the highest number of fines and shows a marked increase of 12,000 tickets compared with the previous year, which resulted in an average of 700 tickets issued each day.
The figures published by the Association of London Government also reveal that 10,824 fines were given to drivers who either parked or drove in the Norwood Road bus lane last year, making it the seventh most heavily fined lane in the capital.
Complaints about the volume of parking fines given out in Lambeth began when the previous Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition council signed a contract with US company Control Plus.
The contract was rumoured to include targets for traffic wardens to issue at least 12 tickets per eight hour shift.
Shirley Wilson, from Lewin Road in Streatham, is fed up with the lack of parking on her road which has resulted in fines.
She said: "A man was recently delivering medical supplies for the clinic in my road and was forced to double park due to the lack of spaces.
"He was given a ticket, despite constantly telling the warden he would only be a minute. I was then told that even if a police car had double parked it would receive a ticket."
Councillor Nigel Haselden, deputy cabinet member for transport and parking, added: "These figures bear out what we have been saying all along about the unfair parking contract signed by the previous Liberal Democrat/Conservative coalition and is one of the major reasons that voters kicked them out at the last election."
Motoring experts have criticised the growth in parking fines across London in general, which rose to a record high of six million tickets last year.
They have particularly condemned the increase in penalties given for moving traffic offences such as blocking yellow box junctions or ignoring one-way signs.
Paul Watters from the AA Motoring Trust said: "Moving traffic offences are becoming the goldmine that parking once was. The increase in fines suggests that in some cases the road layout is wrong, causing confusion and difficulty for drivers. We would urge anyone getting a fine to appeal."
10:55am Sunday 17th September 2006
posted by Neil Herron at 10:56 AM
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