Wardens hand out thousands of fines
RECESSION-hit Shepway District Council brought in almost £1,000 A DAY from parking fines during a six month period, the Herald can reveal.
Figures exclusively obtained by this
newspaper show traffic wardens dealt out over 7,300 penalty charge notices between August 1, 2009, and January 31, 2010.
These latest statistics show motorists in Shepway paid out £172,300 in the six month period – £960 a day or £40 an hour – in fines for parking offences. The most profitable areas in the district were Hythe High Street, where 307 vehicles received tickets, and Sandgate Road with 259.
In Mount Street car park, central Hythe, 321 motorists were fined, while 305 visitors to the Upper Payers Park facility, located just off Grace Hill in Folkestone, were also ticketed.
There are two types of parking fines that can be issued by the council’s traffic wardens: a higher penalty charge of £70 is given to motorists caught flouting serious road safety rules, such as leaving cars on double yellow lines, while a fine of £50 is handed out for less serious rule-breakers, such as those who fail to buy a pay-and-display ticket in car parks.
The district council offers a 50 per cent discount on fines paid within 14 days. Drivers have up to 28 days to pay the full charge and failure to do so incurs a further increase of 50 per cent. Debt collectors can be called in if motorists still refuse to pay up.
Of the 7,329 tickets issued, 5,048 have been paid and 1,369 have been contested although it is not yet clear how many of these will be successfully argued.
Income:
The council has, like many across Britain, been forced to find savings in the aftermath of the economic downturn. It ploughs the ticket revenue back into transport-related services and a proportion goes to Kent County Council.
A district council spokesman said: “Any surplus income that remains after deducting the cost of running the service cannot simply be added to the council’s general income. Surplus income is spent on transport-related projects as agreed with the county council.”
The council’s ticketing policy came under fire from Shepway Independents leader Colin Tearle, a long-time critic of the present district administration.
He said: “Of course people should get a ticket if they park illegally.
“However I don’t accept the council’s explanation about how the money is used. I’ll give them 10 out of 10 for creative accounting.”
3 Comments
by Marilyn Flack, Folkestone
Monday, March 08 2010, 4:49PM
“I managed to get a parking ticket in Dec along with 108 other drivers..I parked in Cheriton Gardens (for as long as I can remember parking was not restricted at the far end) still I should have been more observant. I did query it but to no avail. Folkestone has gone down hill so much that I prefer to shop in Canterbury. One of these days Shepway will realise that they have driven so many people away. May I thank the herald for printing this.”
by roythebus, New romney
Sunday, March 07 2010, 8:57AM
“What Shepway choose to ignore is that the wording on many of their Penalty Charge Notices does not comply with the law (unless it's been changed recently), and anyone with a small knowledge of the law could mount a successful challenge to a parking ticket if they could be bothered to do so.
Also, many of the road markings in the area do not comply with the regulations, so anyone parking on a double yellow in New Romney for instance could successfully challenge a parking ticket.
The law is that any road sign that does not comply with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions is not a road sign, and that includes double yellow lines!
May I suggest anyone with a parking ticket google pepipoo and go to the forums section for some very helpful free advice about how to challenge parking tickets.”
by Boggy on the Marsh, The Marsh
Friday, March 05 2010, 10:18PM
“Let's get one thing clear here, Shepway District Council DO NOT employ Traffic Wardens! They employ Civil Enforcement Officers! The days of Traffic Wardens have long since passed, you know the days when they worked for the police and magaged traffic flow in and around out towns. CEO's are not employed to manage traffic, you will never see one directing traffic at a junction when the traffic lights fail, you will never see one directing traffic when there is an accident in town and you will never see them using common sense and discretion. What you will see them doing is slapping tickets on as quick as they can in order to meet their quotas and all done without a bit of decency and discretion. And further to this what about the damn right ignorant incident not so long back where the CEO parked their van on double yellow lines causing an obstruction in the High Street and prevented a Police response vehicle from getting by! The response from the CEO bosses.... they are exempt from parking regulations when carrying out their business!
The CEO should have been reported for obstruction of the highway and obtruction of a police constable! SDC you owe the public a full explantion!”