10 ways councils are making budgets go further
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Parking: Appeals quash 80% of PCNs in London and Birmingham
More than 80% of penalty charge notices were quashed in central London and Birmingham last year following appeals to the independent parking adjudicator.
Eighty-eight per cent of appeals against Westminster PCNs were successful, compared with 87% in Birmingham, and 86% in Hackney. Westminster City Council did not even bother to contest 44% of appeals.
However, less than four in 10 appeals were successful in Coventry and the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston Upon Thames. Only 9% of appeals were successful in Reigate and Banstead, and 22% in Sefton.
Westminster’s cabinet member for economic development and transport, Cllr Danny Chalkley, said only a minimal proportion of parking tickets were appealed in the first place.
‘Westminster City Council issued 823,831 parking tickets in 2006/07, with only 15,876 (1.9%) having gone to the appeals process, clearly demonstrating the competency of our parking attendants,’ he said.
However, he recognised that the council had ‘previously been too rigid when considering motorists’ appeals, too firm by applying the strict letter of the law, rather than taking due consideration of an individual's circumstances – and exercising our discretion’.
He added: ‘It must also be stressed that the level of cases not contested is not a direct reflection of wrongly-issued tickets.
‘In many cases, evidence is later supplied by the motorist to show that an exemption applied and hence, the ticket should be cancelled.’
