Parking Enforcement
29 March 2011 by Hamst
The 1st March 2010 saw the new Civil Enforcement Officers take control of on street parking in North Lincolnshire. The 14-strong Civil Enforcement Officers had been out on a dummy run prior to this date and had issued a potential �25,000 worth of tickets. The switchover saw the council take charge of parking permits and fines, taking over the job from Humberside Police promising a more visible presence out on the streets. The new officers also have extended powers which include the ability to report other offences such as littering, dog fouling and dealing with public enquiries.
An officer issues a ticket on Cliff Gardens
Whilst many people see this as a money making racket the council have always been quick to respond that it�s not about raising revenue but more about keeping the parking bays clear for the law abiding motorist etc. It has, admittedly, been noticed that it�s easier to find a parking space on the side streets in the town centre, the spaces are no longer taken up by people who would park there all day. It�s also been noticed how many cars are now parked in the carpark of the Gala Bingo all day, this surely highlights how severe the problem was.
Since 1st March 2010 until the end of February this year a total of 13,153 penalty charge notices were issued resulting in over �350,000 in fines being paid.
Although it hasn�t always been straight forward for the officers as in the first year of operation, more than 700 motorists were successful in appealing to have the fines cleared, this even lead to calls to retrain its civil parking enforcement officers after claims by a local resident he was wrongly accused of breaking the law.
There have been year to date has seen 15 motorists who have take their cases to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal in Manchester, after the council had twice turned them down.
Currently there are no plans to increase either the levels of fines or the number of officers patrolling the streets from April this year. Is it now time wardens broadened their patrol areas, should they be more mobile and be issuing tickets to offending vehicles on all roads around the town and not just in the major retail areas.
What are readers thoughts on this, have you found it easier to park to shop in Scunthorpe and are you using the town centre more as a result?
An officer issues a ticket on Cliff Gardens
Whilst many people see this as a money making racket the council have always been quick to respond that it�s not about raising revenue but more about keeping the parking bays clear for the law abiding motorist etc. It has, admittedly, been noticed that it�s easier to find a parking space on the side streets in the town centre, the spaces are no longer taken up by people who would park there all day. It�s also been noticed how many cars are now parked in the carpark of the Gala Bingo all day, this surely highlights how severe the problem was.
Since 1st March 2010 until the end of February this year a total of 13,153 penalty charge notices were issued resulting in over �350,000 in fines being paid.
Although it hasn�t always been straight forward for the officers as in the first year of operation, more than 700 motorists were successful in appealing to have the fines cleared, this even lead to calls to retrain its civil parking enforcement officers after claims by a local resident he was wrongly accused of breaking the law.
There have been year to date has seen 15 motorists who have take their cases to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal in Manchester, after the council had twice turned them down.
Currently there are no plans to increase either the levels of fines or the number of officers patrolling the streets from April this year. Is it now time wardens broadened their patrol areas, should they be more mobile and be issuing tickets to offending vehicles on all roads around the town and not just in the major retail areas.
What are readers thoughts on this, have you found it easier to park to shop in Scunthorpe and are you using the town centre more as a result?
If you would like add your own news article to Visit Scunthorpe, Login or sign up, its free and easy and you can start publishing your own content here, straight away.
Comments
No Comments
If you would like to leave a comment about this article, Login or sign up now
Please Note
Views expressed on this site are those of individual posters, who by making these posts indemnify Visit Scunthorpe and its operators of any legal responsibility or obligation.
Please respect the privacy of others, if someone gives you infomation that you use in your post, please don't identify them.
Visit Scunthorpe is North Lincolnshire's only truly independent, non commercial, community news web site.
Established in January 2010 we have lots of members with a wide range of views who all contribute
independently with articles of their own.
You won't find dozens of adverts covering our site, or some poor attempt to promote local business services under the guise of offering a community service.
Here on VisitScunthorpe we are interested in just one thing, building an online community which is representative of the people of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire and the surrounding area.
Paul. Founder Visit Scunthorpe.
How it Works
If you would like to have the ability to add articles and comments to Visit Scunthorpe then all you need to do is sign up with a valid email address for an account. This is free, your email address is confidential and we don't send out spam emails.
Once you've completed the sign up then you are free to post and comment on well... pretty much anything, we just have some basic civilised rules to prevent people from inciting violence, hatred or making individual attacks.
If you have a web site or directory which covers either independent news and blogging, or is related to North Lincolnshire or Scunthorpe then get in touch to set up a reciprocal link.
