davieG Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Drivers in England will get 10 minutes' grace before being fined if they stay too long in council-owned car parking spaces, the government has announced. It is one of several changes, expected to take effect later this month, which include new restrictions on the use of CCTV cars issuing automatic fines. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he wanted to end the "war on drivers". But councils said many already allowed 10 minutes' leeway and raised concerns about the safety of other changes. The changes include: guidance for councils reminding them they are banned from "using parking to generate profit" a right for residents and businesses to demand - by a petition - that a council "reviews parking in their area" new powers for parking adjudicators so they can "hold councils to account" protection to stop drivers being fined after parking at out-of-order meters a ban on the use of CCTV "spy cars" except in no-parking areas such as bus lanes and near schools Mr Pickles said: "We are ending the war on drivers who simply want to go about their daily business. "For too long parking rules have made law-abiding motorists feel like criminals, and caused enormous damage to shops and businesses. "Over-zealous parking enforcement undermines our town centres and costs councils more in the long term." 'Roads chaos' Councillor David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Association said the government should be concentrating more on road safety issues rather than "looking to micromanage parking". He said: "Many councils already allow grace periods of 10 minutes for drivers who overstay their parking ticket. Equally, councils know parking restrictions cannot be used to make a profit but are there to stop chaos on our roads. "We are concerned that government has rushed through today's announcement and failed to fully consult councils on the detail of the regulation." He said he was concerned about the decision to ban the use of CCTV on zebra crossings. "Beyond the headlines, what is particularly worrying is the detail of these proposals which could make roads less safe for vulnerable pedestrians and inconvenience millions of motorists and commuters," he said. Motoring organisations have welcomed the government announcement According to figures from the RAC Foundation, councils in England made a combined surplus of £667 million from their on and off-street parking operations in 2013-14. By law, any surplus councils make from parking fees must be ploughed back into transport projects such as road improvements. 'Ease tensions' Director Prof Stephen Glaister said motorists did not care how parking regulations were enforced as long as it was done fairly. "For such a minor part of our lives parking generates a huge amount of frustration and anger," he said. "Allowing a grace period will help ease tensions and make everyone's lives easier. "The shame is that we have required ministerial intervention to tackle the 'rules are rules' culture which can result in heavy handed and disproportionate penalties." The changes come from new laws, guidance to councils and use of astatutory instrument - through which ministers can make rules without an act of Parliament. AA president Edmund King also welcomed the announcement. He said: "This is a common sense move. All too often there are discrepancies between the car clock, the civic clock, the pay-and-display clock, the parking attendant's clock and the driver's watch, which all result in disputed tickets. He added it was counter-productive to have parking attendants "hiding in doorways to issue tickets the minute a ticket runs out, as this deters drivers from shopping in the high street". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB11 Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 I thought they allowed grace anyway. I've seen traffic wardens stood next to a car waiting to see if the driver returns before applying a ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellend Sebastian Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Is it me or is the world going mad? If you park for X amount of time, why do you need an extra 10 minutes on the end? It's like moaning if you get told off for being 5 minutes late arriving at work every day. 'War on motorists' indeed. I don't think I've ever heard such bollocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Is it me or is the world going mad? If you park for X amount of time, why do you need an extra 10 minutes on the end? It's like moaning if you get told off for being 5 minutes late arriving at work every day. 'War on motorists' indeed. I don't think I've ever heard such bollocks No it isn't it is like getting a £80 fine because the queue in the Post office or Bank was longer than you expected, and then deciding not to use the post office or bank again because of it, impacting trade in the town, and generally impacting the economy, when you were simply parked in a parking space for a few minutes longer, making no impact on traffic or anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellend Sebastian Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 No it isn't it is like getting a £80 fine because the queue in the Post office or Bank was longer than you expected, and then deciding not to use the post office or bank again because of it, impacting trade in the town, and generally impacting the economy, when you were simply parked in a parking space for a few minutes longer, making no impact on traffic or anyone else. Well, you know, things might hold you up, so if you're worried about that, maybe return to your car a bit earlier? This will just mean people who park for an hour going back after 70 minutes and then kicking up a fuss when they get a ticket after 71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Walsh5 Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Wish they would give you 10 minutes leeway when dropping off or picking up at airports. Cost me £1 the other week for dropping someone off that took less than 2 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADK Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 The councils could just reduce the time limit by 10 minutes. Really though it's a bit daft. I've never had a parking fine because I don't park illegally or overstay written time limits. The money pays for the enforcement. Why should I pay for the council to enforce safe and fair parking measures instead of the selfish people who break the rules? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScouseFox Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Wish they would give you 10 minutes leeway when dropping off or picking up at airports. Cost me £1 the other week for dropping someone off that took less than 2 minutes. we pulled up at a roundabout outside liverpool airport so we didn't have to pay the 3 quid to drop off, jumped out walked down the road to the terminal. got home and had been fined for pulling over in an incorrect place . bastards. as for this, it'll just mean people who cut it fine will cut it fine 10 minutes later. pointless idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 The councils could just reduce the time limit by 10 minutes. Really though it's a bit daft. I've never had a parking fine because I don't park illegally or overstay written time limits. The money pays for the enforcement. Why should I pay for the council to enforce safe and fair parking measures instead of the selfish people who break the rules? Bullshit. Many councils make a fortune from parking fines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellend Sebastian Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Bullshit. Many councils make a fortune from parking fines. That's better than higher council tax, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADK Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Bullshit. Many councils make a fortune from parking fines. I don't know about a fortune, depends on the council I suppose. But the idea is to act as a deterrent as well as covering the cost of enforcement. If they make money it is because a lot of people are breaking the rule. They can't make any money from it unless people break the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Why are people against this? What kind of hard hearted Nazis would want to punish someone for being 2 minutes late? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charl91 Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 I don't really understand why anyone would be against this. Unless you're a traffic warden who gets paid on commission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellend Sebastian Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Why are people against this? What kind of hard hearted Nazis would want to punish someone for being 2 minutes late? Hard hearted Nazis like myself. If there's going to be a fine, there's a cut off point between where there is one and where there isn't, and all they've done is arbitrarily move it by ten minutes. When I'm trying to find a parking space now I'm going to have to wait an extra ten minutes for all these sods to move. I'll tell you what this is. It's a war on motorists, that's what Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 6 March 2015 Author Share Posted 6 March 2015 A bit of good old fashioned electioneering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fynwy Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Motorists who moan about "stealth taxes" because they are fined for illegal parking, speeding etc are just stupid, there is no stealth involved just idiots disobeying posted rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseBreath Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Motorists who moan about "stealth taxes" because they are fined for illegal parking, speeding etc are just stupid, there is no stealth involved just idiots disobeying posted rules. See if you still think like that when you get fined for doing 60mph on a motorway because they've enforced a variable speed limit that was set at 40mph because of an accident that was cleared three hours before you got there. How about the old placing a mobile speed camera at at the bottom of a hill where the speed limit has been lowered to well below the speed of the natural flow of traffic for some spurious reason like Road noise, how is that not stealth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 I just believe in fairness and compassion for those less fortunate than ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fynwy Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 See if you still think like that when you get fined for doing 60mph on a motorway because they've enforced a variable speed limit that was set at 40mph because of an accident that was cleared three hours before you got there. How about the old placing a mobile speed camera at at the bottom of a hill where the speed limit has been lowered to well below the speed of the natural flow of traffic for some spurious reason like Road noise, how is that not stealth? I drive 20,000+ miles a year and have been driving for 26 years, only speeding fine I've received was when I was being a twat driving at 100+ on the M18, just obey the signs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trav Le Bleu Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 The problem with this is that some people will park for an extra 10 minutes every time and when they get back at 11 minutes past the hour they will argue, "well the queue in the post office was longer than I thought and it's only one minute over!" When in fact they will be 11 minutes over. EDIT: Just noticed that the ad at the bottom of this page is Car Parking Solutions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl the Llama Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 Why not avoid a fine by paying for 20 minutes more than you think you'll need at the meter if you're unsure about post office queues or what have you. Rocket science it is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisNedry Posted 6 March 2015 Share Posted 6 March 2015 How anyone can complain about this is beyond me. I think it demonstrates how people will moan about anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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