Park life Scottish ministers have now told Scottish local authorities that they may set their penalty charges between 80 and 100. Thats around a 60 per cent increase. Only last September, those Scottish ministers were against raising penalty charge levels Fare funding Emerging evidence suggests more councils are operating their parking services in deficit, there is an increasing number of persistent contraveners, and penalty charges are now too low to be effective. Some councils, especially in inner-city areas, will generate surplus in parking operations theyd be hard pressed not to given the traffic volumes but most dont. Its important to remember that surpluses often fund or contribute significantly to concessionary fare schemes, which encourage public transport use and reduce congestion and the demand for parking. Government policies, especially in England, seem to have been focused on hampering local authorities ability to fully fund their parking operations. Increasingly, we hear claims that there has been a war on the motorist, when it is fundamentally evident from governments own statistics that this is not true. Car parking charges also include 20 per cent VAT. If ministers really wanted to make parking more affordable for everyone, they could scrap the VAT. This would allow councils to better fund their increasingly expensive parking operations, with motorists paying no more than they currently do, or even allow the price of parking to be lowered. Meanwhile, the VAT is a nice little earner for the government. Posturing and possibilities For the past decade or so, government parking policies seem to have been formulated on Anecdotes Niceties Posturing and Rhetoric a whole new meaning for ANPR (automatic number plate recognition)! England has even legislated against the sending of parking penalty charge notices (PCNs) through the post, further limiting local authorities scope for efficient and effective enforcement. Scotland has never permitted it. Councils are highly regulated, politically accountable bodies, and it seems counterintuitive that this restriction continues to exist. It has negative consequences on the effective and efficient use of parking staff, who could be better deployed to improve road safety and access to town centres, rather than patrolling car parks. Its proven that, in privately operated car parks managed using camera technologies, there is a 99.7 per cent compliance rate.3 If only, say our local authority members, who experience a much lower compliance rate, with patrolling staff having to identify all contraventions. Ironically, ANPR use in council car parks would most likely increase compliance, with the prospect of fewer PCNs being issued. But do we have another meaning for ANPR: Are New Possibilities Real? Achieving our objectives Are these new beginnings? Will England and Wales follow Scotlands lead and increase the cap on penalty charges? How about allowing all local authorities to use camera technologies in parking enforcement, like their private sector counterparts, with the potential to increase compliance, reduce the number of PCNs issued, and better deploy patrols. It does seem odd nowadays given the advent of local authority management of moving traffic contraventions in England and Wales that the only area where councils seem unable to use camera technologies for enforcement purposes is parking. Its well known that efficient and effective parking enforcement benefits the majority of motorists and is needed because of the minority of selfish motorists. The only people who receive penalties are law-breakers! Interestingly, statutory guidance states: ... the objective of civil parking enforcement should be for 100 per cent compliance, with no penalty charges. It also says authorities will need to bear in mind that if their scheme is not self-financing, then they need to be certain that they can afford to pay for it from within existing funding. The Secretary of State will not expect either national or local taxpayers to meet any deficit. One wonders who pays for it then and especially so when politicians want all parking to be free. Just where does the money to run it all come from? The Easter bunny? bit.ly/PNApr23TSGB bit.ly/PNApr23stat 3 Figure from BPA research in 2019 of Approved Operator members using ANPR data from around 3,000 car parks 1 2 Kelvin Reynolds BPA chief technical services and governance officer kelvin.r@britishparking. co.uk 48 PN Apr 2023 pp47-48 Kelvin.indd 48 23/03/2023 11:16