Council parking - a fine line? According to recent reports - TopicsExpress

Council parking - a fine line? According to recent reports from the RAC Foundation, councils made a profit of £565m last year from parking charges alone. This comes hot on the tail of a judge ruling Barnet Council in north London had illegally set parking charges in order to pocket the change. Eight of the top ten highest earning councils were in London, whilst Brighton and Hove and Cornwall also made it on the list. And what’s more, they are set to make £635m profit from this year. "For many local authorities, parking charges are a nice little earner, especially in London,” says RAC Foundation director, Professor Stephen Glaister. "Not all authorities make big sums. Several run a current account deficit and indeed of those with surpluses many will see the money vanish when capital expenditure is taken into account. But the bottom line is that hundreds of millions of pounds are being contributed annually to council coffers through parking charges." However, councils are arguing back and saying that any surplus made is going towards fixing potholes and generally improving roads, therefore benefitting the local community. Whether it be that motorists are trying to be thriftier or councils more vigilant - we want to help you avoid falling foul of fines and have produced some hints and tips on beating the parking blues! 1) Be vigilant – if you are parking in a restricted time zone, be meticulous and check the exact minute you parked your car. If you can, set an alarm and always aim to be back five minutes before to account for any distractions that may come your way on your return to the car! 2) Display your ticket clearly – one of the biggest reasons people get parking tickets is because they have a ticket but it’s just not displayed in an obvious place. If you’ve gone to the expense of getting a ticket, make sure you position it clearly on the dashboard or stick it to the window! 3) Plan your parking - if you really don’t want to pay for a ticket, but urgently need to do shopping, see if you can plan it during a time where car parking is free. This normally coincides with shops closing, but not always. Do your homework and you could save yourself spending! 4) Know your rights – for example – are you aware that single yellow lines mean you normally can’t park between 8am – 6pm, whilst on evenings and weekends the restrictions are often lifted. Make sure you’re familiar with the parking available and if you are unsure, don’t take the risk and park in a legitimate parking space instead. 5) Don’t be aggressive – if worse comes to worst and you do get given a ticket, don’t shout or abuse the parking inspector. It won’t help the situation and any disputes can be taken up with your local council instead. The information was produced for the RAC Foundation using the annual returns the councils made to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Only 14% of the 259 councils reported a deficit from 2011/12.