Parking chiefs scrap ‘ridiculous charges’
Your Local Guardian
By Cara Lee
By Cara Lee
Parking contract over: Councillors Lib Peck and Nigel Hasleden
Lambeth Council has scrapped its unfair parking system which gave traffic wardens incentives for issuing as many tickets as possible.
The borough's notorious cash for parking tickets scheme, in existence since the former Conservative and Liberal Democrat council signed a deal with contractors Control Plus in August 2003, meant traffic wardens faced penalties if they did not hand out at least 12 tickets during their eight-hour shifts.
The move caused anger within the community and a massive 70 per cent of fines were challenged in the first six months. Revenue from parking fines rose by £4 million within just one year. And the Streatham Guardian recently reported on the ever increasing number of tickets dished out in Lambeth, which reached an all time high last year with a whopping 700 fines per day.
Now all that is set to change after the council renegotiated its contract with Control Plus to remove financial incentives for issuing tickets and add initiatives to encourage them to treat motorists fairly.
Within the new terms the contractor will be rewarded if more traffic wardens help and respect motorists but they will be penalised for rude behaviour or unfairly issuing tickets. Mystery shoppers will also rate the attendants' behaviour.
Cabinet member for environment and culture Councillor Lib Peck said: "This is a fresh start on parking policy. We have listened to residents who told us that they were unhappy with the old system where parking attendants were often overzealous, and we are putting in place a policy that is firm but fair."
Councillor Nigel Haselden, deputy cabinet member for parking and transport, added: "The new arrangements will be better for motorists, and for parking attendants, who do an important and sometimes difficult job and too often face abuse."
John Mulvey felt the wrath of the unfair parking contract when he was issued a ticket after yellow lines were painted by contractors underneath his parked car.
"This is great news," he said. "Traffic wardens should be there to ensure the free movement of traffic, rather than for punishment. Wardens have used sneaky tactics to justify giving tickets but now they can do their jobs without meeting ridiculous targets."
The move caused anger within the community and a massive 70 per cent of fines were challenged in the first six months. Revenue from parking fines rose by £4 million within just one year. And the Streatham Guardian recently reported on the ever increasing number of tickets dished out in Lambeth, which reached an all time high last year with a whopping 700 fines per day.
Now all that is set to change after the council renegotiated its contract with Control Plus to remove financial incentives for issuing tickets and add initiatives to encourage them to treat motorists fairly.
Within the new terms the contractor will be rewarded if more traffic wardens help and respect motorists but they will be penalised for rude behaviour or unfairly issuing tickets. Mystery shoppers will also rate the attendants' behaviour.
Cabinet member for environment and culture Councillor Lib Peck said: "This is a fresh start on parking policy. We have listened to residents who told us that they were unhappy with the old system where parking attendants were often overzealous, and we are putting in place a policy that is firm but fair."
Councillor Nigel Haselden, deputy cabinet member for parking and transport, added: "The new arrangements will be better for motorists, and for parking attendants, who do an important and sometimes difficult job and too often face abuse."
John Mulvey felt the wrath of the unfair parking contract when he was issued a ticket after yellow lines were painted by contractors underneath his parked car.
"This is great news," he said. "Traffic wardens should be there to ensure the free movement of traffic, rather than for punishment. Wardens have used sneaky tactics to justify giving tickets but now they can do their jobs without meeting ridiculous targets."
posted by Neil Herron at 11:15 AM
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