WEE EXCLUSIVE - LEAKED MEMO FUELS FRESH ROW ON WESTMINSTER PARKING TICKETS

Published: 12 February 2010
EXCLUSIVE by JAMIE WELHAM

A LEAKED email to the West End Extra has suggested parking wardens are being pressed to issue at least one ticket an hour.

The memo, sent from a senior manager working for Westminster Council’s parking contractor NSL in November, was referring to wardens working in neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea.

The message said that “there are still a ­significant number of people issuing at a rate of 0.9 per hour”, adding: “We should not be uncomfortable about using the disciplinary process, providing we can show we have ­provided proper training.”

When asked whether the email was auth­entic, Tim Cowen, the head of communications at NSL, said “Yes”.

But he added that this did not constitute a target and that the company was simply ­monitoring parking wardens who had been “noticed issuing an unexpected level” of parking notices.

In the past, both Westminster Council and NSL have denied that targets are ever set for wardens.

On Wednesday, Westminster Council ended its relationship with NSL after a seven-year contract came to an end. 

The company will be replaced by engineering firm Mouchel from April. The contract is worth £50million over three years.

Cabinet member for city management councillor Danny Chalkley said: “I understand that parking enforcement isn’t popular, and no one likes getting a ticket, but Westminster is the busiest and most congested borough in London.

“We have pioneered new parking policies to make it easier for motorists to park in Westminster with our firm but fair approach.

“This new contract will build on these innovations and help keep Westminster moving.”

The council prefered the bid from Mouchel over NSL.

NSL strongly deny that the email is proof it sets targets to wardens, which is strictly forbidden under Department for Transport guidelines, arguing the 0.9 per hour figure is “certainly not a target”.

NSL spokesman Tim Cowen said: “It is ­simply that these CEOs have been noticed issuing an unexpected level of [Penalty Charge Notices] PCNs. Wher­ever we see unusual patterns of PCN issue we like to check to make sure that there are no problems with CEOs.

“It is vital that the whole system is care­fully audited and monitored. A key part of that is watching the issue of PCNs very closely.”

He said the company – which has contracts with 60 local authorities across the country – had been lobbying the government for a change in law to make ticket ­targets illegal. 

In December City Hall ordered an investigation into NSL following claims from wardens in the West End Extra and in a Cutting Edge documentary on Channel 4.

Christopher Oching, a warden in Westminster for three years said: “We are so pleased. We are pleased about the email. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

Westminster makes more from parking than any other London council – around £35million each year.

Leader of the Labour group Paul Dimoldenberg said:  “We have been repeatedly told by the council that there are no parking ticket targets. I again call for a full independent inquiry to clear up this scandal.”

Councillor Danny Chalkley, Westminster’s cabinet member for city management, said: “Westminster council does not set targets for the number of tickets issued by parking attendants and has not done so for over five years. Any evidence to suggest otherwise will be fully investigated.”

A spokeswoman for Kensington and Chelsea added: “Making sure that CEOs are doing a proper day’s work in terms of the volume and accuracy of PCNs is not something we should have to defend or apologise for.”