Parking tickets 'have increased'

02/06/2011

Steven Birch

Drivers were issued with nearly 4.25 million parking tickets in 2009/10 by local councils, a report has revealed.

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal said that the ticket issue increase - from 4.03 million in 2008/09 to 4.24 million in 2009/10 - was caused by 50 new councils in England and Wales joining a scheme which allows councils to hand out Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).

But the tribunal revealed that more than 50% of the councils involved in the initiative issued fewer PCNs in 2009/10.

The report also revealed that there was a 15% climb in the number of appeals made to the tribunal in 2009/10, with 57% of motorists winning their cases compared to 62% who were successful in 2008/09 and 60% in 2007/08.

Appeals per parking ticket held steady at 0.3%.

Parking tickets can be a real nuisance to motorists on a budget as they are already likely to encounter rising car insurance and petrol costs this year.

The tribunal's chief adjudicator Caroline Sheppard said councils should ensure that the use of CCTV enforcement was "properly supporting their transport objectives and that it is being applied fairly and with integrity".

She also called for the setting up of a body to deal with complaints outside the tribunal's jurisdiction.