Statutory guidance proposed for parking enforcement is essential to ‘give teeth’ to councils’ voluntary guidelines on best practice, but the boroughs say that it cannot fix a major flaw in the Traffic Management Act.
Nick Lester, director of the association’s parking and environment committee, welcomed the draft guidance issued for consultation last week (Surveyor, 13 July). However, the ALG will continue to press the Government for new powers to target persistent evaders. ‘We don’t think the 2004 Act can support a viable approach to this problem,’ he told
Surveyor. Innocent motorists who buy a vehicle from a persistent evader currently run the risk of it being towed away in the six weeks it takes the DVLA to update its records. The Act’s definition of persistent evasion also excludes the two-thirds of repeat offenders with unregistered vehicles, as it requires that they have previously-ignored penalty notices served on them by councils.
A London Bill, now in parliament, would resolve both problems, said Lester. It is progressing in the Lords, but is formally opposed by the Government, which wants standardised procedures nationwide for dealing with persistent evaders.
Ministers needed to choose between ‘a standard stance which doesn’t work or a scheme in London that does work and can be rolled out nationally at a convenient opportunity,’ the ALG officer added.