entitled to make a profit. We do believe, however, that the government has a right to get involved with any private operator offering a public service.’ In the case of appeals for tickets issued by private
operators, Baker is wholly behind an independent appeals board because ‘the public do not have the recourse, at the moment, that they have with an accountable body such as a local authority.’ Te biggest issues facing parking are, according
to Baker, how to improve the public’s perception of parking. It is acknowledged by most people that parking cannot be free, but it must be seen to be fair.
Sense and sensibility ‘It is more of an art than a science,’ said Baker. ‘For example, if enforcement officers are hanging around the corner waiting to issue a ticket, then that will obviously cause resentment. Allowing a heavily pregnant woman to park outside a shop for a few minutes is a sensible thing to do. It is a case of getting that balance right. ‘Te problem is that for all the times that parking
gets it right, it does not find its way into the press, and then you get a horror story and it knocks the profession again.’ Baker suggests that staff training is very important
I would urge them to enforce parking measures with a soft touch and ensure they are using their powers to do the right thing
in this, both for local authority staff and the private operators, but that the simplest thing for operators to do is to ‘put themselves in the motorist’s shoes,’ to decide if they are charging and enforcing parking reasonably. In line with the coalition government’s
manifesto, local authority parking will be subject to decentralisation. Tariffs will be decided locally, according to needs and situations, and accountability will be firmly in the hands of the local population. He does have some advice for local authority
parking managers: ‘One of the temptations to local authorities in these times of budget-cutting will be to rack up parking prices. I would strongly advise councils not to do this. ‘It will have the effect of making the parking
providers very unpopular and will become an unfair tax on the motorist. Parking should not be seen as a cash cow, no matter how tempting that is in these difficult times.’ However, Baker does suggest that councils
www.britishparking.co.uk AUGUST 2010 25
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