Parking fines were illegal, council admits

The problem could be widespread, leading to concerns that the entire parking system may be flawed.
The council admitted it wrongly issued the tickets following a Freedom of Information request by the Newbury Weekly News.
It was prompted by the claim last month from former council traffic warden Andy Needham that a parking restriction sign on Kings Road, Newbury, was illegal.
He said: “I told them three years ago and I see nothing has been done. For the ‘restricted hours’ parking sign to be valid, it must be accompanied by a single yellow line.
“We were also told not to inform motorists they had a right to appeal.”
Department for Transport guidelines state: “Where waiting is prohibited at certain times (eg peak hours) and limited waiting, or waiting by specified classes of user, permitted at other times, a white bay marking should be used with a single yellow line... Inadequately signed restrictions are likely to be legally unenforcable.”
Three weeks ago, a spokesman for the district council, Keith Ulyatt, said that Mr Needham’s claim was being investigated, but there was still no response on the specific issue as the NWN went to press yesterday (Wednesday).
Meanwhile, the FOI request revealed that there had been 152 penalty charge notices issued at Kings Road since Mr Needham said he alerted the council to the problem.
And the reply from the council highlighted another problem entirely, with potentially district-wide implications.
Quite apart from the single yellow line issue, the council admitted: “The issue regarding this sign is that the yellow element requires Department for Transport approval for use if used with the wording ‘except permit holders’ and, on checking, it has been found that this had inadvertently not been obtained.”
The FOI response also stated that the council could not refund 10 motorists illegally fined under this oversight, adding: “When [a parking fine is] paid without challenge, there is no check undertaken to obtain the name and address of the person who has contravened the parking regulations.
“No enforcement of the offence relating to the yellow element of the [Kings Road] sign is currently being undertaken and replacements for all black-on-white signs that will fully comply with the regulations have been ordered and will be erected very shortly.”
Mr Ulyatt said: “This one slipped through the net, but we will replace any that are found to be incorrect.”
However, Roger Hunneman (Lib Dem, Victoria) said the council had questions to answer.
“How can people have faith in the system if this is happening? How widespread is this? Even if it turns out to be just Kings Road, I’m not happy that motorists have been illegally fined and not reimbursed.
“It shows a lack of record keeping and I will be taking this further. It’s clearly not right and it suggests the whole system is sloppy and poorly thought out.”

• Do you think you have been illegally fined for parking in Kings Road? Call John Garvey on (01635) 564528