Differential parking fines could be introduced across the capital next year, if Londoners warm to the idea.
The boroughs and Transport for London will launch a joint, three-month consultation on this and other proposed changes in various traffic penalties next month.
At its last review in 2002, the Association of London Government rejected any move to link penalty levels to the seriousness of the parking offence because it would cause confusion and increase the complexity of enforcement. But media controversy surrounding rigid and ‘over-zealous’ enforcement has led to a series of parking policy reviews, forcing the proposal back up the agenda.
The London Assembly’s transport committee last year acknowledged ‘an emerging recognition’ that a distinction should be made between breaching a prohibition – such as parking on a yellow line – and overstaying on a meter or other minor contraventions of permitted parking rules. ALG advisers also cite the Government’s proposals for variable penalties for speeding offences, in the Road Safety Bill, as a reason for the re-think.
The association, which commissioned a feasibility study of variable charging by JMP Consulting, concluded that other ways of differentiating penalties – by length of overstay or the effect on road safety or traffic flow – would be hard to implement and possibly unworkable. Bromley has levied higher penalties for breaches of prohibited parking regulations in its town centre since 1994. This was ‘working well’, with few motorists complaining of confusion, the ALG’s transport and environment committee has been advised. It will not propose changes in the current three-tier system of penalties based on road type or in the 50% discount for payment within two weeks.
Differential penalties would see a £10 increase in prohibition penalties and an equivalent reduction for ‘less serious’ permitted parking offences – compared with current levels. About half of all PCNs are in the former, ‘more serious’ category. If uniform charges are to increase, the ALG and TfL propose two options – a £10 increase, reflecting four years’ inflation, or an inflation-busting £20 rise, taking the top band – for TfL roads, central and much of inner London – to £120.
This ‘band A’ penalty should continue to apply to bus lane and moving traffic offences. Charges for releasing illegally-parked vehicles from a wheel clamp or car pound would also rise by inflation. If differential fees were introduced, councils would have to show increases were required to cover actual costs. Any changes, which have to be approved by the mayor and the transport secretary, would take effect in April 2007.
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