U-turn over Easter holiday parking fines

Published: 22 April 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

CAMDEN Council has been forced to cancel more than £60,000 in wrongly issued tickets after bungling staff changed its Easter parking policy without consulting councillors.

More than 1,000 motorists were slapped with £60 fines when they parked on single yellow lines on Good Friday or Easter Monday – at a total council profit of £67,140.

Regulations are not usually enforced on these days, but when contacted by the New Journal, the Town Hall denied there had been a sudden change in practice. 

A spokeswoman said: “We have always enforced in the same way on Easter weekend. If people parked there in the past and didn’t receive a ticket then they may just have been lucky.” 

But this week Councillor Andrew Marshall, leader of the Conservatives, admitted a blunder had taken place – and promised to cancel the 1,119 fines that were issued over the holidays.

“Parking officers somehow got it wrong,” he said. “They changed our policy and enforced single yellow lines, where in the past only double yellow lines were enforced. It’s obviously a regrettable incident and lessons will be learned, but council managers have taken responsibility and are now getting this sorted.”

Around 240 payments had already been received by the council when the mistake was pointed out, but Cllr Marshall said staff are in the process of refunding them. 

Abul Kalam, a taxi driver who has lived in Royal College Street for 17 years, said he was “relieved” to hear that his fine had been cancelled, but said he has not yet been contacted by the council.

“I was shocked to receive the fine,” said Mr Kalam. “I’ve lived here since 1993 and it’s the first ticket I’ve got during Easter Bank Holiday. I thought they had changed the law without telling residents first. We already pay for our permits and still they are looking for other ways to get money from us.”

A Camden Council spokeswoman said: “Our traffic orders, relating to single yellow lines, make it clear that we can issue tickets over the Bank Holiday weekends. However, in recent years Camden has taken the decision as a gesture of goodwill not to issue parking tickets to cars parked on single yellow lines on Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday.

“Over the Easter period this year we did enforce parking regulations and displayed this information on our website, but realise that many motorists may have been confused by the inconsistency.

“Given the history of non-enforcement we have taken the decision to cancel or refund any parking tickets issued on Good Friday and Easter Monday. 

“I regret any inconvenience caused and I would like to confirm that we will not be enforcing on single yellow lines on forthcoming Bank Holidays.”

Payments made by credit or debit cards will shortly be automatically refunded. Anyone who has paid by other means can contact Parking Services on 020 7974 4648 to find out how to claim a refund.