THOUSANDS of pounds have been generated from parking tickets issued in Driffield during East Riding Council’s first year of civil parking enforcement.
From November 2011 to October 2012 562 penalty charge notices (PCN) were given out in Driffield which typically carry a £50 or £70 charge, unless they are paid within a 14-day ‘discount’ period during which the price is halved.
The period is the first in which East Riding of Yorkshire Council has been in charge of civil parking enforcement (CPE), after taking-over from Humberside Police in 2011.
The council issued 15,259 PCNs in its first year, meaning 4.6% of the East Riding’s 338,700 population received a ticket.
This compares to 18.6% for Scarborough’s 108,600 population and 11.1% of Harrogate’s populace of 158,700.
John Skidmore, head of streetscene services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “From the start, our aim was to support safe and sensible parking across the East Riding, as the vast majority of motorists’ park properly and pay for the time they use. “We still get daily requests from our residents to tackle parking problems and send out enforcement officers who invariably find that it is another example of a badly parked vehicle blocking someone’s access. “If a PCN is issued in error, we have robust statutory appeals procedures in place.” Income made from Civil Parking Enforcement can only be spent on traffic-related items, such as the maintenance of street signs and lines and improvements to parking facilities provided by the council.
The expenditure from the first year of operation, between November 2011 and October 2012, was £1,177,256 and income from the period totalled £1,046,095, which leaves a net deficit of £131,161 which was anticipated by the council in its first year of operating the new service.