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ILLEGAL PARKING?
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Millions of
motorists are likely to incur parking fines without
realising it after being caught on CCTV. Local councils
are to have the power to use remote cameras to enforce
parking laws, then send tickets by post. The move comes
alongside other changes that will allow parking
attendants to issue tickets as soon as they say they have
seen a car illegally parked, without having to put them
on the motorist's windscreen.
Under the new plans, town hall staff in control rooms
will monitor CCTV cameras trained on high streets to
issue tickets the second a car parks on a yellow line or
overstays at a parking meter. Under some circumstances,
motorists can wait on single yellow lines to let
passengers out or unload goods but this has not stopped
CCTV operators in London, where councils have been
allowed to use cameras for some time, issuing tickets
anyway.
Caroline Sheppard, the chief adjudicator or the National
Parking Adjudication Service, said drivers should be
allowed a few minutes grace to find change for a parking
meter. There will be no obligation on anyone issuing a
ticket remotely to follow this guidance, however. Paul
Watters, the AA's head of Roads and Transport Policy,
said, "CCTV cameras can be used to enforce parking
restrictions which will make it appear easy to enforce
parking bans and dole out tickets but a CCTV camera
cannot spot a blue badge, note down a tax disc number or
always spot loading or unloading." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Feb/08)
Motorists are
being handed five times as many parking tickets as a
decade ago as mobile CCTV cameras catch drivers who stop
for as little as 17 seconds. More than four million
parking fines with penalties of up to £105 were issued
by councils last year, up more than 10% in the two years
since CCTV-equipped camera cars were introduced. Instead
of wardens placing tickets on a windscreen, drivers learn
of the fine when the automatically-generated ticket
arrives at their home by post.
The number of tickets has risen more than five-fold from
just under 800,000 in 2000. The misuse of parking cameras
has been criticised by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The
number of people successfully appealing their tickets has
risen by 20% since the CCTV cars were introduced. More
than 8,000 drivers were last year vindicated on appeal
after wrongfully receiving tickets. In one case which was
thrown out on appeal, a council issued a parking ticket
on the basis of CCTV footage lasting just 17 seconds.
In another rejected case, a fine was issued after a car
stopped for 46 seconds to allow the driver and passenger
to swap places. Caroline Sheppard, chief executive of the
Traffic Penalty Tribunal, said tickets had been issued by
CCTV cars to vehicles which were "clearly
moving" or where there was a valid exemption for
unloading. The report from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal
found camera cars were parking on double yellow lines to
sting drivers and councils were failing to put up signs
warning drivers that CCTV is in operation.
Motoring groups said cash-hungry councils were using
parking charges and fines to fill "black holes in
their coffers". Government guidance says councils
should use automatic CCTV cameras "sparingly"
as motorists regard enforcement as
"overzealous". The Association of British
Drivers said the statistics proved that the "war on
motorists was far from over". ABD's Hugh Bladon
said, "Councils are desperate for money and the
motorist is an easy target. Things can only get
worse." A spokesman for the AA said "putting in
cameras has turned a cottage industry into an industrial
process". (Source: Daily Telegraph, Aug/11)
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