The Department for Transport says civil enforcement officers should have the discretion ‘to not issue penalty charge notices in certain situations’.
The statutory guidance on civil enforcement of parking contraventions under the Traffic Management Act 2004, discourages front-line staff from exercising discretion over whether or not PCNs are issued. This would ‘protect civil enforcement officers’ against threats, or allegations of bribery.
But, following calls from road users that ‘flexibility is good practice,’ and helpful in winning support for enforcement, the Department says councils might want to set out situations where CEOs should not issue PCNs.
The document, which councils must adhere to, suggests discretion, where a driver has committed ‘a minor contravention and is still with, or returns to the vehicle before a PCN has been served’. But such discretion would need to adhere to ‘clear policies’ that are published.
The DfT’s intervention came as the AA urged enforcement officers to ‘show some flexibility,’ given the fact that drivers are likely to ‘receive PCNs for contraventions they didn’t know existed’.
‘Motorists may be unaware that they can get ticketed for parking at a dropped kerb or half a metre from the pavement,’ according to Edmund King, AA president. There are ‘no signs to indicate that there are these new offences,’ so flexibility is required ‘until the message gets across to motorists’.
They would be particularly ‘shocked,’ if these tickets arrive in the post – the new guidance allows PCNs to be sent ‘where CEOs have been prevented from issuing PCNs, or do not ‘have enough time’ to serve them.
A number of local authorities believe that some discretion is needed. West Sussex officers, for instance, have warned against ‘dogmatic enforcement’ of double parking that measures how far cars are from the kerb, and urged a consideration of whether cars are actually causing an obstruction.
The AA predicted a growth in appeals over the new contraventions because ‘the changes will create some error and misunderstanding’. However, a spokesman for London Councils said that the statutory guidance stresses that the exercise of discretion should, ‘in the main, rest with back-office staff’, not with civil enforcement officers. He also denied that there would be confusion.
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