Here, there and everywhere: cars are destroying our lives

Ham and High 24
editorial@hamhigh.co.uk
31 January 2007

RECENT articles in the Ham&High show how motorists are taking over ever more of our public space by continual guerrilla action.
People who use buses on main roads know how they are continually slowed down by having to wait for car after car to pass before they can rejoin the traffic stream from a bus stop. According to your recent article, Transport for London decided to do something about this by removing bus laybys on Falloden Way. Then motorists started colliding with buses. more

Parking fines went missing in the mail

Mansfield Today
CAR park bosses say a mix-up with fines at Mansfield's Portland Retail Park was due to a batch of mail going missing.
The news comes just two weeks after Mansfield District Council's switchboard was inundated with calls from concerned residents who had received £100 fines through their letterboxes. more

Probe into parking problem

Shopshire Star

Inconsiderate drivers are causing misery for residents across Shropshire as they dump their cars on the county’s streets to dodge parking charges.
Vehicles are being left on double-yellow lines, footpaths and in restricted bays by motorists flouting parking regulations. more

Bid to ban parking on roads

Express and Star

Shoppers could find themselves with nowhere to park if plans to outlaw parking on a number of roads near a Stourbridge shopping centre get the green light. more

MP wants parking plans dropped

The Argus
An MP has called for a council to abandon its plans for a controversial parking scheme.
Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, has written to East Sussex County Council to oppose the proposed parking regime for Seaford. more

Traders in parking plea

Guardian-series
East London and West Essex
by David Jackman

TRADERS in Ongar are calling for a widespread review of parking in the town following complaints about parking in residential roads and the actions of parking attendants who are being blamed for affecting businesses more

IT glitch causes fines fiasco

Ealing Times
By Benedict Moore-Bridger

HUNDREDS of letters demanding payment for parking fines have been wrongly issued by Ealing Council.
Last Thursday a computer glitch meant 250 "reminder notices" were sent out to car owners who had contested their parking fines in the last ten days. more...

City set to pocket extra £1.6m from new parking zone fines

The Scotsman
ALAN RODEN TRANSPORT REPORTER

THE city council is set to rake in up to £1.6 million extra from parking fines after extending the Capital's controlled parking zone.
Almost 1000 motorists have been fined every month in the first two new parts of the zone - a third more than the council had predicted. more...

Greens and Lib-Dems back higher parking charges for gas guzzlers

The Argus
By Lawrence Marzouk

Plans to penalise owners of gas-guzzling cars with higher parking charges are gaining pace after the Greens and Liberal Democrats backed the move. more...

How to stop motorists going parking mad

This is Local London
Most motorists have experienced problems with parking their vehicle. ALEX GALBINSKI talks to two friends who hope to make life easier for drivers more...

Parking tickets illegal, claims barrister

The Argus
By Katya Mira

Every parking ticket issued in Brighton and Hove is illegal, a barrister has claimed.
Arguing at a parking ticket appeal hearing, Stephen Thompson said the wording on a fine his client received last year contravened the 1991 Road Traffic Act. more

Parking tickets illegal, claims barrister

The Argus
By Katya Mira

Every parking ticket issued in Brighton and Hove is illegal, a barrister has claimed.
Arguing at a parking ticket appeal hearing, Stephen Thompson said the wording on a fine his client received last year contravened the 1991 Road Traffic Act.
If the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS) adjudicator agrees, the ruling could set a legal precedent and render every parking ticket that has been issued since decriminalisation in 2001 invalid. more

14,000 Worcester drivers 'not let off paying parking fines'

24dash.com
Publisher: Ian Morgan
Published: 24/01/2007 - 09:38:43 AM

Reports that 14,000 drivers have been ‘let off’ paying parking fines due to incorrectly issued tickets are simply not true, according to Worcester City Council’s On Street Parking Enforcement team. more...

Campaign for appeals against parking fines

Denbighshire Free Press


RESIDENTS hit in the pocket by a traffic warden parking blitz are being urged to fight back and appeal against the fines. more...

A Fine Mess

Worcester News
Exclusive By Tom Edwards

A WHOPPING 14,000 parking tickets have been wrongly issued in Worcester since the city council started managing the system because staff were not trained properly. more...

Residents hit out at parking fine shock

Mansfield today
16 January 07

COUNCIL chiefs have been 'inundated' with calls from shocked residents who have been slapped with £100 fines for using a private car park.

Dozens of motorists received the fines through their letterboxes at the weekend for parking at the town's Portland Retail Park as long ago as September last year. more

Greens: 4x4 parking fines ‘not enough’

Camden New Journal
18 January 07

EXTRA parking permit charges for drivers of big vehicles such as gas-guzzling 4x4 cars do not go far enough, the Green Party has warned. more...

Motoring: Higher parking charges for gas-guzzlers in Richmond

4Car news from Channel 4
16 January 07

Richmond council in south-west London has approved a controversial new parking scheme: residents' parking permits will be charged according to their vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions. more

Read signs to avoid parking fines

Eastern Daily Press
18 January 07

The issue of parking fines has scarcely been out of the news this month, with the EDP reporting a series of disputes across Norfolk. So what rights do you have when parking on private land - and are parking tickets worth the paper they're written on? JON WELCH investigates.

For most drivers, parking fees are an irritating but unavoidable part of life.Parking fines, on the other hand, can leave even the calmest of motorists seething - especially when they amount to £60 or more for going over the time limit by just a few minutes. more

'Natural justice' could replace standard fines

The Argus
By Lawrence Marzouk

Discounted parking fines could be handed out in Brighton and Hove for minor infringements.
A similar scheme is to be introduced in London this summer, with reductions of up to 50 per cent for those overstaying their time in pay-and-display or free bays. more

Fines rise

Herts 24

HARLOW motorists saw the biggest rise in parking fines in the country in 2005, according to a report by the National Parking Adjudication Service. The number of penalty notices in the town rose by 47 per cent, compared to 20 per cent nationally.
Across the country, £275,000 of parking fines were paid every day - the highest figure ever. The 3.4 million fines issues last year have raked in over £100 million for councils.
A Harlow Council spokesman said: "The service's annual report for 2005 makes its comparison by measuring the number of tickets issued in 2004 against 2005. However, almost 40 per cent of the councils surveyed have not presented two full years' worth of information. In fact, around 15 per cent have only submitted one year's worth of information.
"In 2005 a number of new clearways were introduced including one in the town centre which meant a number of areas enforceable for illegal parking increased. This may have impacted on the number of tickets."
In 2006 Harlow Council issued 623 less tickets than the previous year.

Road tolls 'will be backed by jail threats to drivers'

Daily Mail
By Ray Massey
Transport Editor

Motorists face six months in jail if they tamper with "pay-as-you drive" road-toll tracking devices put into their cars under draconian new laws being sneaked through Parliament, the Daily Mail can reveal. Read full story here

Thousands join the fight against road pricing

David Millward, Transport Correspondent - 10 Jan 2007
A petition against Government plans to force motorists to pay as they drive has amassed more than 180,000 signatures.. ...read

Cancelled ticket could be loophole

Chorley Today
A Chorley man who successfully appealed against a parking ticket claims he may have uncovered a legal loophole that could help thousands of other motorists.
Ron Ashworth, 56, of Radburn Close, Clayton-le-Woods, was given a £30 penalty notice for parking on Friday Street, Chorley....more