Motorist kerb offenders will face £70 penalty

Jul 30 2008 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

MOTORISTS should be fined £70 if they park more than 50cm from the kerb, the Government told Mersey-side councils yesterday.

The fixed penalty notices should also be slapped on vehicles left along dropped kerbs – creating difficulties for wheelchairs and prams – or double-parked dangerously, ministers said.

The Department for Transport (DfT) insisted the changes – available for councils to use from early next year – would bring the rest of England into line with London, where the fines are already imposed.

But they will fuel criticism that local authorities are using parking charges as a cash cow, with ever more draconian clampdowns on inconsiderate motorists.

Latest figures show that drivers paid out £23.5m in parking charges last year across Merseyside, North Cheshire and West Lancashire.

The highest figure was in Liverpool (£7.2m), followed by Cheshire (£5.5m), Sefton (£3.9m), Wirral (£3.1m), St Helens (£1.6m) and Warrington (£0.99m).

Meanwhile, councils can now use CCTV cameras to catch parking cheats – sending tickets by post – and parking attendants can issue a ticket if they see a car illegally parked, without having to put it on the windscreen.

Local authorities outside London were given limited powers to issue fines for parking too far from the kerb, parking next to dropped kerbs and double-parking in March this year, and Wirral Council had expressed an interest in doing so.

None have gone ahead with the plans, because they were first re-quired to spend money on traffic signs, or road markings, to warn motorists they would be punished.

Now the law will be changed to allow infringements to be enforced after town halls have mounted an information campaign – without specific signs, or markings.

Transport Minister Rosie Winter-ton, said: “Dropped footways are to help wheelchair users and those with powered mobility vehicles or prams get around easily.

“The Highway Code says that you should not stop or park in such places and we believe placing of traffic signs and/or road mark-ings to indicate these re-strictions should not be necessary – as is the case in London. The same rules should apply to allow councils to enforce against double parking, a danger-ous activity that causes an unnecessary obstruction of the road, putting all road users at risk.”

The crackdown was backed by the British Parking Association, but it warned: “We must be absolutely sure that this power, which has been used in London for a number of years, is implemented in a fair and transparent way.”

The new powers will be available for all local councils where responsi-bility for enforcing parking has pass-ed from the police. That excludes Knowsley, St Helens, Halton, Chester and Ellesmere Port and Neston.

The fines will be £70 or £60, de-pending on which band is used by town halls, with a 50pc discount for paying up within two weeks.

Last year, councils were ordered not to set targets for parking tickets, or income from fines, to try to curb criticism the true motive was raising revenue, not to keep traffic moving.