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Council’s mobile parking enforcement car serves over 1,400 tickets in three months
Parking enforcement car in Peterborough city centre. Photo: Peterborough ET
ALMOST £25,000 has been paid in fines by reckless drivers caught out by Peterborough City Council’s new roving Smart car in its first three months.
The vehicle has a state-of-the-art automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera to take photos of cars breaking rules of the road.
The authority’s nine traffic enforcement officers take it in turns to drive the car around, while the other eight remain on foot.
Since it came into force on October 27, the vehicle has issued and processed 1,453 fines – raising a total of £24,388.10.
By comparison, when all nine traffic enforcement officers patrol the streets they issue an average of 1,300 fines per month.
Councillor Peter Hiller, cabinet member for housing, neighbourhoods and planning for Peterborough City Council, said: “The CCTV car is proving to be effective.
“Along with our civil enforcement officers, it’s another resource that we can use.
“It helps us to patrol parking hotspots across the entire city.
“We want to ensure that the traffic flow is as smooth as possible at all times to help everyone move easily from place to place.
“If people are stopping and parking inconsiderately outside schools, on clearways, taxi ranks and next to bus stops, it can create traffic jams and congestion which can delay law-abiding motorists and emergency services.
“Ultimately, I hope the number of contraventions the camera records will reduce over time.
“Then we will know the message about parking correctly will have got through.”
The Smart car roves around roads where bad driving has been a particular nuisance, with the most number of offences recorded at Midgate and Broadway.
Once an offence is spotted, the ANPR sends the fine to the car owner’s address.
The fine is £70, but if it is paid within 21 days it drops to £35. If it is paid after 28 days the fine rises to £105.
The month-by-month breakdown of fines starts from September 2011, when the system was trialled and spotted one offence.
It started fully on October 27 and in that month 42 fines worth £735 were paid by drivers.
The next month that number jumped up to 469 fines, worth £10,682.50, and then in December there were 619 fines issued worth £11,220.60.
This month’s figures go up until January 24, when there were 322 fines issued with £1,750 collected so far.
The money goes to Peterborough City Council but the scheme has been criticised by some quarters.
A TaxPayers’ Alliance spokeswoman said: “With this Smart car raking in so much cash in fines some taxpayers will suspect this is more about raising revenue than road safety.
“Of course motorists should drive and park responsibly but in many other cities they do so without the threat of fines from roving enforcement cars.”
Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, also voiced his concerns.
He said: “These cameras not only generate a much higher number of incorrect penalties, but they are yet another way of spying on law abiding citizens.”
Where the 1,453 fines came from:
338 - Midgate
275 - Broadway
101 - Hartwell Way
93 - Lynch Wood
91 - New Road
83- Phorpres Close
74 - Stirling Way
64 - Bakewell Road
61 - Flaxley Road
43 - Ivatt Way
42 - Southgate Way 20 - Ashton Road
17 - Bourges Blvd
15 - Thorpe Wood
14 -Newcombe Way 13 - Morley Way
11 -Oundle Road
10 - Lincoln Road
9 - Katharine Way
8 - Queens Drive Wst
7 - Burghley Road, Gresley Way and Northminster Road
5 - Tresham Road
4 - Bretton Way, Eastern Avenue, Shrewsbury Avenue, Park Road
3 - Eastern Close, Phorpres Way, Taveners Road
2 - Acacia Avenue, Chapel St, Chestnut Avenue, Fletton Ave
1 - Atherstone Ave, Beech Rd, Bradwell Rd, Cattlemarket Rd, Cowgate, Northminster, Hargate Way, Lilac Rd, Myrtle Ave, Northfield Rd, Western Ave, Winwick Place
What do you think?
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Comments
There are 38 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
Jbrewis
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:25 PMI agree with the car catching those who are parking illegally and blocking roads and entrances but I object to the fact that this car is targeting those who are picking people up or dropping people off. The council keeps plugging for ways to reduce the traffic on the roads and lift sharing is a great way to achieve this but recently people I know have been fined for just quickly stopping to let someone in the car. This took a matter of seconds. This is absolutely ridiculous and has made people think again and will put people of picking others up meaning everyone has to use their car instead. Outcome of this MORE CARS ON ROAD!!!
The Admiral
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 12:42 PMshould get 10 a day down Lincoln Road just from the carsales businesses parking untaxed vehicles. funny how "its only for a moment" turns into a 10 or 15m parking session. agree with the idea of extra school patrols, especially around Jack Hunt and the Junior school, some days the bus can't get past the poorly and illegally parked cars
Grapesmuggler
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 08:56 AMslap the same tech into a handheld mobile device and pass it to the hobbie bobbies, make a fair few quid in a day.
doesitmakeadifference
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 07:21 AM@henry....yes agreed and i bet thats between Westgate and Geneva St. I have noticed that the majority of tickets given out are in the town centre or within half a mile of it. Obviously thinking of petrol costs...or maybe doesn't like being too far away from Costa Coffee where he reports back to his councillor friends on how well he has done...
henry
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:33 PMGood idea but only 10 down Lincoln Rd. that's a bit thin. Did the driver have his eyes closed?
Karyaneka
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 09:45 PMExcellent!! It's about time some people were stopped from being so selfish and thoughtless. Can I suggest more school patrols. And why is it that motorists are often generally described as 'law abiding citizens' that are being 'persecuted' or 'spied on'? If they have the courtesy to park correctly and considerately then there is no problem. If they don't, then they are hardly 'law abiding'.
EdCase
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 09:16 PMGreat ! Most people who illegally park are just too lazy to walk. You see them outside shops parking on double yellow lines yet 10 yards further they can park legally. Even at supermarkets you see them driving round and round until they can find a space outside the entrance door yet they are able bodied and capable of walking miles never mind across a car park. Lazy lazy people. LADYSKA is also right. Book 'em all.
AntiPC
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 07:10 PMI notice the car hasn't managed to apprehend any of the gypo wagons that plague the city parking illegally here there and everywhere!! Just let the council tax payers sort out the mess they leave behind, or give them a portaloo to use freee of charge, even though their own caravans have toilets? Why don't the police park up and monitor them with cameras and arrest any scumbag that tries to 'relieve' themselves outside - the message would soon get through.
J J Carter
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 07:09 PM@18 'cultural sensitivity' as per usual.
tomk
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 06:59 PMI think this is a great idea, people may argue its to rake in money for the council, others may say its another excuse to spy on us, but if your doing nothing wrong what have you got to hide!
Bamboozler
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:35 PM#25 - Do the maths!, if the figure were £24,395 it would tally up to 507 paid fines and 946 unpaid. Or, a maximum of 697 paid at £35 each, meaning 756 yet to collect.
doesitmakeadifference
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:27 PMI make that 14 in Dogsthorpe in 3 months where there is a parking prohibition and numereo uno Peter Gell has been told that there is, on average, 14 illegally parked in Dogsthorpe between a Friday pm and Sunday pm every weekend. Add on Mon- Fri and how many is there getting away with it and he won't do anything about it so forgive me if I dont go overboard about the figures mentioned.
mrangryblowoff
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:26 PMThe answer's quite simple - if you are a motorist - shop at an out of town location, i.e. Hampton where you can park for free without being hassled. Might mean that a few more shops in the City centre will close down - but the Council are not worried about that are they - as long as the fines keep rolling in........
BoroReader
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:16 PMDo the maths ....... £24,388.10 divided by 1453 = £16.78 each fine .... sounds a bit on the low side to me. Now .... £16.78 multiplied by the nine traffic enforcement officers average 1300 tickets = £21,814.78. Multiply this by the three months = £65,444.34. Now either Peterborough City Council have just cost the local tax payer £41,056.24 ..... or they can hand out the fines and are ineffective in collecting the fines. Either that or another quality bit of reporting by the Peterborough Evening Telegraph !! My hunch is PPP all round !!!!
suzyQ
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 03:21 PMI'm not surprised they issued so many tickets, other motorists were probably so busy laughing at the ridiculous looking thing that they lost control of their vehicles. I hope the council's drivers are well paid for losing all their street cred by being seen in the ridiculous object - who was it made by? Tiny Tykes?
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