DRIVERS in Wirral who park more than a foot and a half from the kerb or do not pay parking tickets could be hit by higher fines or have their vehicles clamped.

The tough new powers for Wirral’s traffic wardens, which also allow them to fine people up to £70 for offences, are expected to be brought in next year.

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

Among other powers the CEOs will be given are to put tickets on cars parked on dropped kerbs. Parking more than 50cm from a kerb is regarded as “double parking” and will be subject to the £70 higher-level fine.

Wirral’s technical services department is considering making use of mobile cameras for areas with serious and persistent parking problems.

Wirral Council’s cabinet member for transport, Cllr Jean Quinn, said: “Parking fines aim to ensure motorists park safely, legally and considerately. We recognise some offences are more dangerous than others and the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) should reflect this accordingly.”

The new arrangements are due to be brought into effect from March 31, 2008.

The council has been given a choice of parking fine levels and has chosen the higher level to maintain levels of income from fines issued to drivers.

A report to Wirral’s cabinet said: “The two scales are high level £60, low level £40 or high level £70, low level £50. As at present, a 50% discount will apply if the notice is paid within the discount period.

“The current PCN level in Wirral is £60. If the lower of the scales is adopted, the council will suffer a loss of income from a significant number of penalty notices. An initial estimate indicates income from PCN’s could reduce by as much as £150,000 per annum.”

The act also allows the council to issue penalty tickets by post if drivers refuse to accept them or if they drive off before the attendant can put the ticket on their vehicle.

But the 200 people who account for more than 1,400 unpaid fines could discover their vehicle is clamped if they get caught again.

The report added: “If a driver has not paid or requested for the clamp to be removed after 12 hours, the vehicle may be put into storage.”

Wirral Council’s contractor, NCP, provides 25 parking attendants to patrol Wirral, with 12 on duty at any one time.