Unpaid parking fines put on hold (From The Advertiser Series)

Unpaid parking fines put on hold

10:54am Friday 1st December 2006

• Print
• Email
• Share

A council may have to cancel thousands of unpaid parking tickets as a result of a court ruling.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has put on hold outstanding fines over more than two-and-a-half years.

It has seemingly fallen foul of a judge's ruling that parking tickets must carry on them both the date of issue and also the date on which the offence was committed.

It is now trying to establish how many outstanding fines are affected by what it called a 'technicality'. However, in line with other similarly affected councils, it said motorists who had already paid would not get their money back, since they are thought to have accepted liability.

Another Teesside authority, Stockton Borough Council, is taking legal advice on whether parking charge notices it issued over the course of 12 months are invalid.

Parking campaigner Neil Herron, who has previously uncovered mistakes in parking enforcement at Sunderland City Council, claimed an amnesty was effectively in force for motorists who had not yet paid their tickets.

He said: "There is a domino effect that is hitting every local council that has failed to correctly draft parking charge notices. Effectively, an amnesty has been created for all so far unpaid parking tickets that are non-compliant."

The issue hinges on a case in the High Court in London, heard in August, when a judge ruled that Barnet Council had acted incorrectly in only including the date of issue on its parking charge notices.

It had to cancel a number of outstanding 'old style' penalty charge notices and lost about £87,000 in revenue.

Other councils around the country who did not include both dates have since been forced into making changes to their ticketing arrangements.

In a statement Redcar and Cleveland Council said: "The council took over responsibility for parking enforcement from the police in June 2003.

"From the start of this financial year all parking contravention notices issued have been in compliance with the High Court ruling.

"We were keen to act in a fair and equitable manner and have been advised to put all outstanding payments on hold. Paid fines remain as contraventions of parking regulations and therefore will not be reimbursed. We are in the process of establishing the total number of currently unpaid fines affected by this technicality."

• Print
• Email
• Share