When is illegal parking allowed? That’s the question that must be asked after witnessing the goings on along a town centre road today.  Chapel Street in Scunthorpe has a temporary suspension of parking along its parking bays to allow for the road to be resurfaced. Signs have been placed at numerous locations along the road warning motorists of No Parking from 13th July 2011 onwards. Clearly this is being ignored and none of the cars had been issued with a ticket, they were been allowed to flout the law.

 From 1 March 2010 North Lincolnshire Council took over all enforcement, both on and off street, under the Traffic Management Act 2004. The local enforcement was said will keep North Lincolnshire moving, reduce dangerous and inconvenient parking, support local businesses, support town centre needs, assist loading and unloading, improve road safety and assist blue badge holders.

There are three key features of the Traffic Management Act:

• Consistency - by providing a system that is fair to the motorist whilst providing effective parking enforcement
• Transparency - by providing a single framework for parking enforcement, and making parking regulations more transparent and easier for the general public to understand
• Fairness - the introduction of the two charging bands means that the penalty charge is more closely aligned with the seriousness of the contravention.

Since the introduction of the civil parking enforcement officers member of the public who have found themselves to have been ticketed have accused the officers of being over zealous, though they do have a right to appeal against the fine.

Although the signs say No Parking from the 13th July clearly the resurfacing machinery is nowhere to be seen so is it right for motorist to park there in the meantime. I put this to the Enforcement Officer patrolling that particular area. He explained that although the suspension is from the 13th the resurfacing team could turn up at anytime, they would cone the road off to stop cars coming along it. I then asked why the need for the signs if that was the case and surely the law is the law and those signs are being breached and he was applying the law as he saw fit. What would happen if the resurfacing team turned up and saw the road wasn’t clear? To this there was no reply.

Is town centre parking enforcement a problem, should all these cars parked in a suspended parking zone be ticket or should officers be praised for applying the law as they see fit, if so it surely opens a whole new can of worms.