Demand made for investigation into council's parking restriction signs

The call followed revelations last week that motorists had been ticketed illegally in at least one road and possibly many more.
The report was prompted by a whistleblower - former traffic warden Andy Needham - who said he was ignored when he alerted his bosses in 2009 that a parking restriction signs on his Kings Road beat in Newbury was legally unenforceable.
He said: “I was told that motorists could appeal if they had a problem but that we weren’t to inform them of this.”
This week highways and transport portfolio holder Pamela Bale (Con, Chieveley), admitted that the council had known about the problem - but she did not say for how long.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Newbury Weekly News revealed that 152 parking tickets were issued in Kings Road since 2009.
However the council claims only 10 were illegally imposed because not all the signs broke regulations.
In her statement this week Mrs Bale acknowledged that it was the job of civil enforcement officers (traffic wardens) to report any issues to their team leader.
And, she added, “the council was aware of the signage issue in Kings Road before the FOIA was submitted.”
The NWN also asked Mrs Bale
* are there other signs in West Berkshire that are similarly incorrect and, if so
* where are they?
* how much will it cost to replace them?
She responded in a statement: “Prior to taking over responsibility in April 2009 for the enforcement of on street parking regulations, WBC carried out substantial checks on signage throughout the district, as this was required as part of the application process. The objective of this process was to review the accuracy of signing and lining against the Traffic Regulation Orders.”
Roger Hunneman (Lib Dem, Victoria) said: “My colleagues and I will be pressing Pamela Bales for a straight answer. The probability is that many other signs are wrong and it needs investigating.”
Council contractors are meanwhile finally replacing the incorrect signs in Kings Road West.
Motorists wrongly ticketed will not be reimbursed, however, since the council keeps no records of who has paid parking fines.
Mr Hunneman added: “I’m also determined that the council should know in future the names and addresses of those it is taking money from in the form of parking fines. It’s a dreadful state of affairs that motorists have been ticketed illegally and won’t be reimbursed.”