Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Parking fees funding blow

Shophire Star
23rd February 07
Market Drayton has suffered a financial blow after it was revealed that the area is not benefiting from parking charge cash - despite being the only town in the district asking motorists pay up.
Thousands of pounds raised from parking charges will continue to flow into North Shropshire District Council’s coffers, despite demands that the money should be ploughed back into the community....more

Plans to stop the parking problems

Wakefield Express
By Staff Copy
A 15-year campaign by Wakefield residents to stop police parking on a busy road may be about to pay off if plans for a traffic scheme are passed later this month....more

Fines clampdown 'will hit innocent drivers'

The Times
26 Feb 07
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor
Local authorities are seeking wide new powers to seize vehicles without a court order in a move that could affect thousands of innocent motorists.
A private Bill going through Parliament with minimal debate has been promoted by Transport for London and local authorities in the capital....more

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Cars will be seized from innocents under new law

London Standard
27/02/07
London: Innocent motorists in London face having their cars seized under a new law, a watchdog warned today.
Caroline Sheppard, the chief parking adjudicator for England and Wales, raised the alarm about the legislation being "sneaked through" parliament....more

Monday, February 26, 2007

Parking strategy for Somerset

Chard & Ilminster News
By Joanna Glover
MOTORISTS in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne could see improvements on and off the roads with the introduction of the first comprehensive parking strategy for the area.
South Somerset District council approved the strategy last Thursday at a full council meeting in Yeovil....more

Leeds City Council parking fine shock

Leeds Today
By Tony Gardner
Millions of pounds may have to be paid out by Leeds City Council because of wrongly issued parking tickets.
Ashley Finister challenged six tickets he received when he parked close to Leeds General Infirmary as he ferried his desperately ill son Jordan to the hospital last year....more

Friday, February 23, 2007

Parking space with £15,000 price

BBC News
23rd Feb 07
An Aberdeen homeowner is offering frustrated drivers a compact parking place all of their own - for £15,000.
Jim Annand became the owner of the small piece of land when he bought a flat two years ago. ...more

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Big Mac and fines for Leyland dad

Leyland News
A father-of-two has blasted the parking policy at one of Leyland's most popular retail sites after a Happy Meal cost him £40 in fines.
Richard Stewart had a ticket slapped on his car while he was in McDonald's on Churchill Way. ...more

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The strange case of Lord Loophole and the mystery driver in his speeding car

Daily Mail
by CHARLOTTE GILL
When a policeman used a legal loophole to escape a fine for speeding, Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate was full of self-righteous condemnation.
The Labour peer - a government adviser on crime - expressed outrage that the case was dropped because the officer in question claimed he did not know who was at the wheel at the time of the offence. ...more

Another fine mess for parking bosses as 200 tickets face axe

The Scotsman
HAZEL MOLLISON (hmollison@edinburghnews.com)
HUNDREDS of parking tickets are set to be cancelled after a computer error meant residents failed to get their permit renewal reminders on time.
Around 1500 notices were not sent out in January - and residents say attendants "pounced" as soon as the two-week grace period was up last week. Those affected include pensioners who were shocked to receive tickets for the first time in their lives. ...more

Drivers face £600 bill for an in-car road pricing black box

Daily Telegraph
By David Millward and Alex Berry
Last Updated: 1:51am GMT 21/02/2007
Motorists face a potential bill of more than £600 to fit a black box needed to make a full pay-as-you-drive road pricing system work, Whitehall documents have revealed.
A blueprint drawn up by the Department for Transport showed it could cost £62 billion to set up and £8.6 billion a year to run. ...more

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Councils facing loss of parking fines after error

The Herald
20 February 07
BRIAN DONNELLY and STEWART PATERSON
A LEGAL error may force more councils to waive millions of pounds in unpaid parking tickets if motorists appeal against the fines.
Wording on tickets issued by six Scottish councils between 1998 and 2006 could effectively invalidate them, if challenged, in the second error since some local authorities took over parking enforcement from the police....more

Monday, February 19, 2007

15,000 fall in number of parking fines issued

The Scotsman
19 Feb 07
ANDREW PICKEN TRANSPORT REPORTER
(apicken@edinburghnews.com)
PARKING attendants handed out 15,000 fewer fines in the Capital last year despite patrolling scores of extra streets.
The drop has been mainly put down to motorists becoming more aware of the city's strict approach to parking offences. ...more

Friday, February 16, 2007

Borough worst for parking fines

Ealing Times
By Benedict Moore-Bridger
EALING has given out more parking fines in one year than any other London borough - with a massive 55 per cent rise on the previous 12 months....more

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Parking Tickets being overturned

Men And Motors

If you've received a parking ticket recently you may be able to get away with not paying it.
Thousands of people are having their fines overturned as a result of a precedent-setting case which rendered tickets issued by a London council as void. ...more

Traffic wardens’ most-wanted targeted in parking operation

Camden New Journal
PERSISTENT parking-fine dodgers were caught out on Wednesday when a sting operation left them motorless or seriously out of pocket.
Camden parking officers, the DVLA and hired bailiffs assembled at various locations around Camden throughout the day, looking for vehicles with outstanding tickets, those dodging tax and those with stolen or fraudulent blue badges...more

The £1 million parking ticket fiasco

IC Coventry
THOUSANDS of invalid parking tickets worth more than £1 million have been issued to drivers in Coventry.
More than 34,000 erroneous tickets were handed out by traffic wardens in an amazing blunder....more

NCP contract is 'up for grabs'

This is Lancashire
Exclusive By Gaynor Clarke
BURY Council will not automatically renew its parking enforcement contract with NCP in the wake of controversy over "insensitive" actions of some wardens.
The contract was awarded to NCP to run for five years, with the option to extend it for a further two years, but the council has decided to put it out for tender at the end of the initial period in October...more

COUNCIL BIN £6.5M PARKING FINES BILL

Daily Record
A BUNGLING council have let meter cheats off with an estimate d £6.5million in unpaid parking tickets.
Transport chiefs in Edinburgh were forced to write off all debts on people fined before June 2006 because of a legal blunder....more

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Council rapped over illegal parking tickets

Manchester Evening News
Dan McMullan

A COUNCIL has been rapped by a national parking watchdog for issuing tickets illegally.
Oldham council now faces a flood of appeals from drivers demanding their cash back after communications engineer John Reeves' £30 parking fine was quashed. more

Ticket gaffe costs city £6.5m

The Scotsman
ALAN RODEN
(aroden@edinburghnews.com)
UNPAID parking fines totalling around £6.5 million have been cancelled by the city council following a legal blunder.
Transport chiefs have been forced to stop chasing Edinburgh's worst parking cheats, leaving the authority with a massive financial black hole....more

Hourly parking rate more than minimum wage!

Islington Gazette 24
nlnews@archant.co.uk

THE cost of parking is to soar by more than 25 per cent at many of Islington Council's bays - with the most expensive now set to cost a whopping £4 per hour. ...more

Monday, February 12, 2007

£6,000 parking fines for carers

Reading Evening Post


Care workers who have racked up £6,000 in parking fines say they are fed up with not being able to park outside their clients’ houses. ...more

'Over eager' parking wardens pay penalty

Lancashire Telegraph
By Sally Henfield
A COUNCIL is preparing to quit a controversial parking warden scheme after saying it is sick of dealing with complaints over "heavy handed" ticketing tactics. ...more

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Parking tickets are ‘still valid’

Oxford Mail
By Giles Sheldrick

Motorists handed fines by illegal immigrant traffic wardens working in Oxfordshire will not be eligible for refunds, it has been revealed....more

Monday, February 05, 2007

JPH visitors face parking fines

Great Yarmouth Mercury
25 January 2007

VISITORS and patients to the James Paget University Hospital are ducking out of paying parking charges by leaving their cars in nearby housing estates and walking to the hospital.
A resident who lives on the Beacon Park estate says she's had enough of visitors to the hospital jamming up the estate to avoid paying parking charges. more

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Councils gang up on the 'gas guzzlers'

The Telegraph
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:35am GMT 04/02/2007

The crackdown on environmentally unfriendly cars looked like spreading nationwide last night with a number of town halls considering schemes which could triple the cost of parking permits. more

Friday, February 02, 2007

Parking fines soar to almost £100,000

East Lothian Courier
By East Lothian Newsroom
2/2/07

ILLEGALLY parked motorists on East Lothian’s roads were fined almost £100,000 during 2006, the Courier can reveal.
Traffic wardens issued 2,864 fixed penalty parking tickets to drivers parked inappropriately, including those who left their vehicles on double yellow lines and in disabled bays. more