PARKING FINES: COMMON SENSE PREVAILS IN SHEFFIELD
Sheffield leads the way in a review of their parking enforcement policy, resulting in longer waiting times before issuing fixed penalty tickets. Bravo! First time we’ve heard of taxi drivers claiming exemption to help disabled passengers. Now that’s equality in practice.
Motorists who get parking fines in Sheffield can expect a more lenient approach from council enforce- ment bosses in future - but only if they have a good excuse to avoid the penalty.
Councils took over civil parking enforcement when the old police traffic warden system ended, but in Sheffield politicians have looked again at the policy. One objective was to make the rules more transparent, and that has resulted in the council making the full
enforcement policy publicly available for the first time.
But it has also meant the authority making an active decision to take a “common sense” approach to individuals who com- plain after receiving a fixed penalty ticket. The biggest areas of contention have involved those who claimed it was neces- sary to leave vehicles in restricted areas on medical grounds, and those who cited load- ing or unloading as the reason for having
a vehicle parked. As a result, the council has doubled the “observation time” which enforcement officers should allow before putting a ticket on a vehicle making deliveries.
Previously they were told to allow five min- utes but that has been increased to ten min- utes, which should be enough to monitor movement if deliveries are taking place. Most of the complaints from individuals about parking fines include claims that there was a medical need, with such genuine cases expected to be exam- ined sympathetically in future.
In addition, taxi drivers will be allowed to claim an exemption if they receive a ticket after leaving their vehi-
cle to help a disabled passenger safely into their home. However, the council has stressed that motorists should obey the rules.
Council officials accept that the new approach may leave the authority with less income from fines, although it is not pos- sible to predict what impact it may have. The council is also planning to introduce a system allowing motorists to buy time in pay and display parking bays using a mobile telephone. It will involve users reg- istering their vehicle and a credit card num- ber with the authority then texting to buy time when they park.
An advantage of that scheme is that a fol- low-up text is
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It is expected about ten per cent of drivers will use that system initially when it is intro- duced this year,
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