Wirral Council cancels a quarter of parking tickets for motorists

Mar 17 2010 by Liam Murphy, Heswall News

A QUARTER of parking tickets handed out each year in Wirral are later cancelled by the authority, according to details released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Since deregulated parking was introduced in the borough in 2004, 39,000-41,000 tickets have been issued each year.

The authority has a contract with NSL – formerly NCP – to provide parking enforcement across the borough.

But between 8,000 and 10,000 tickets a year are later cancelled. Last year, 8,652 tickets were cancelled, saving motorists £215,300 – at the £25 discounted ticket rate.

Reasons for the cancellations range from car owners subsequently demonstrating they held a blue badge – for those with a disability – or actually had a valid ticket to park, to errors by parking attendants, owners being untracable and ticket machine faults. The figures also revealed that each year around 3,000 tickets are cancelled after “representations” from disgruntled motorists are accepted by the authority.

The Road Traffic Act 1991 allowed councils to take on enforcement of parking – know as Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE).

Under DPE, parking “offences” became “contraventions”, and parking attendants, employed by the local authority, issued civil Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) in cases where traffic wardens employed by the police had previously handed out parking tickets.

In 2008, tough new powers for Wirral’s traffic wardens were also introduced, allowing them to fine people up to £70 for certain offences.

It is part of a two-tiered system which allows parking attendants – renamed Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) – to issue £50 fines for lesser offences. They had carried a £60 fine, reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.

The Freedom of Information response from the council revealed that, in 2004, 42,839 tickets were issued and 10,740 cancelled; in 2005 48,704 tickets were issued and 10,316 cancelled; in 2006, 46,969 tickets were issued and 10,490 cancelled; in 2007, 41,142 tickets were issued and 9,490 cancelled; in 2008, 39,590 tickets were issued.

A council spokesman said: “We are satisfied that, in the vast majority of instances where we cancel a parking ticket, there is a genuine reason under the current enforcement policy for doing so.

“In the majority of cases, motorists have held a valid ticket, permit or badge.”