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Drivers win up to 94% of parking fine appeals
David Williams, Motoring Editor14 Jul 2008
Motorists are winning more than nine out of 10 cases in some boroughs when they fight parking tickets at a formal appeal.
A total of 9,506 fines issued by Westminster were taken to an independent adjudicator in six months. The council lost more than 8,900 of them - 94 per cent. It also lost 96 per cent of appeals against fines for "moving traffic offences" such as blocking yellow box junctions or flouting no-right-turn signs. Numerous other councils lost most parking fine cases taken to the independent Parking and Traffic Appeals Service.
Critics seized on the figures as evidence that some local authorities were issuing tickets "indiscriminately" to raise revenue. They accused officials of ignoring the initial informal letters of complaint from motorists. Only after a council rejects these does the case go to an independent inquiry.
The figures from the appeals service cover the period from October last year to March. They show that Londonwide, motorists won 74 per cent of formal appeals against parking tickets. They also reveal:
•In Southwark, 1,265 drivers appealed to independent adjudicators over parking fines and the council lost 91 per cent of challenges.
•Havering lost 87 per cent of cases.
•In Hackney, 1,036 motorists went to the appeals service and won in 84 per cent of cases.
Parkingappeals.co.uk, which helps drivers fight "unfair" tickets, said some officials routinely turned down drivers' informal complaints in the hope they would pay their fines.
"The statistics demonstrate councils' intent to maintain duress on motorists for the longest possible period," said Parkingappeals spokesman Simon Aldridge.
"It shows councils are abusing the system, especially when they don't even defend the tickets at appeal. It sends out a message to the public: should those tickets have been issued at all? This is a wholly unacceptable attempt to maximise income."
Councils that lost a high proportion of moving traffic cases included Southwark and Hillingdon (90 per cent), Harrow and Lambeth (80 per cent) and Hackney (73 per cent).
A spokesman for London Councils pointed out that fewer than one per cent of tickets issued in London were challenged. He said councils often did not receive the full facts of a complaint until the formal appeal. "When new evidence becomes apparent, the council often decides not to contest.
"If the evidence had been fully presented earlier the case might not have gone to appeal.We urge motorists to appeal if they feel they have a case."
Danny Chalkley, Westminster's cabinet member for transport, said the number of appeals not contested by the council was falling.
He added: "We have introduced common sense parking measures. In six months, this has resulted in nearly 40 per cent fewer tickets being issued to resident permit holders."
