A £40,000 CCTV camera car will begin patrolling the streets of Cardiff today in a bid to catch illegally parked vehicles.
Drivers who park on zig-zag areas near schools, wrongly enter bus lanes or are stationary in restricted areas will be filmed by the car as it negotiates the city streets. This data will be sent back to a central hub system, which can then send out tickets.
While cars caught breaking regulations will receive warning notices for the first two weeks of the scheme, fixed penalty notices will be issued to offenders after this date.
Further expansion to the scheme could see it soon targeting cars that have disobeyed parking charges.
Cllr Ramesh Patel, cabinet member for transport, planning and sustainability at Cardiff City Council, said: ‘This new camera car will increase the efficiency of parking enforcement and Moving Traffic Offences. Those who park illegally and breach the Highway Code are putting other road users at risk and their behaviour isn’t acceptable.
‘I have made it clear that I want the team to concentrate on illegal parking around schools, but it will also be used to monitor other contraventions. This is an investment of over £40 000 to improve public safety.
‘In the future, the car also has the capability to be used to catch those who flout the pay and display charges and commuters who chose to park in allocated residential areas.’
Measures outlawing CCTV parking enforcement ‘spy cars’ everywhere apart from at schools, bus stops and bus lanes were approved in the last reading of reforms in the Deregulation Act.
