In 2007 residents and traders in Station Way, Buckhurst Hill, were initially consulted over whether they wanted new parking restrictions imposed in their street as part of the district-wide, £1 million parking review.

The review was designed to resolve conflict between residents and commuters over parking spaces near tube stations.

At that point, Roding Valley London Underground Station was in Zone 5, and was not as frequently used by commuters as nearby Zone 4 stations so residents decided to opt out of the review.

However, the year after this, Roding Valley station was moved in to zone 4, and suddenly residents found their street packed with commuters, drawn to use the station by the sudden drop in the price of travelling from there.

With parking restrictions due to be imposed in streets surrounding Buckhurst Hill tube station in the coming months, residents now fear a another surge in the number of commuters using the station.

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At Wednesday’s full council meeting Terry Neville slammed the council’s “flawed” decision to press ahead with the scheme which he claimed could cripple Enfield high street as shoppers flock to large, out-of-town shopping centres with free parking.

But in a move likely to infuriate residents, traders and shoppers Labour remained adamant that the tariffs are here to stay.

Councillor Del Goddard dismissed the opposition’s argument that the sky-high cost of parking was driving people from town centres adding that the woes of the high street had to be looked at “in context”.

His tough stance on the controversial issue was echoed by leader of the council Doug Taylor who pointed to the VAT hike and the poor state of the national economy as the main reasons high streets are struggling.

But as the debate grew increasingly heated Terry Neville hit out at Labour’s arguments and pointed out that the out-of-town stores have to cope with exactly the same pressures, but still seemed to be doing much better than their town-centre counterparts.

He concluded his attack on the Labour decisions by calling for a vote on the issue.

But this plea was shrugged off by Mr Goddard who told the councillor: “taking it to a vote would not be constructive”.

Labour’s determination to keep the tariffs, which will swell council coffers by as much as £100,000 meant the motion was easily defeated by 31 to 23.

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From this week, Barnet Council has introduced the £1 half-hour vouchers, which are available for purchase online through its website.

A one-hour voucher costs £2. One-hour and half-hour vouchers are also available to buy in the borough’s 16 libraries, with a minimum order of four.

Since one-hour parking vouchers were introduced in December, 3,628 have been sold online.

The number of motorists now registered to pay for parking by phone in Barnet has risen to 162,437, an increase of 30,000 since pay and display machines were decommissioned in December.

The change has caused uproar among shoppers and traders, who claim the scheme is “killing the high streets”.

Parking was among the hottest topics at a Talk London event in Hendon last week, hosted by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Campaigners attended in matching t-shirts emblazened with slogans opposing pay-by-phone payment methods.

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A ruling seen by BBC London details how NSL, working for Kensington and Chelsea Council, set its wardens a minimum target of 10 tickets a working shift.

It is illegal to set minimum quotas of parking tickets.

NSL denies setting quotas and said it was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling and was considering its options.

The quotas came to light after one traffic warden, Hakim Berkani, lost his job in February 2011 and took NSL to court.

There are significant numbers issuing below 9 per hour… we should not feel uncomfortable to use the disciplinary process”

He claimed he was dismissed for highlighting the illegal quota system, along with his union activities.

In a ruling which has just been published following the hearing at the London Central Employment Tribunal, Judge Burns agreed Mr Berkani had been unfairly dismissed.

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Drivers were this week calling for enforcement to be suspended outside The Skylark pub on South End and questioned where else wardens were unfairly issuing tickets.

In September, parking bosses overturned Ken Lippett’s fine after he appealed on the basis that the signs were contradictory and road markings did not meet legal standards.

Local politician Mark Samuel, of South Croydon, who helped him plead his case, said: “To date, none of the signs or markings have been corrected.

“So, despite a precedent having been set by the council, in saying that this taxi rank is unenforceable, it apparently continues to hound motorists with illegally issued tickets.”

Outside The Skylark a sign reading “no stopping 8am-3am” conflicts with a Transport for London sign saying the space is for two taxis between 7pm and 3am.

Parking campaigner Barrie Segal said parking authorities often issued fines even when parking signs were not valid.

“They do it on the basis that 90 per cent of people will pay up,” he said.

A council spokesman said: “We’ve not issued any tickets there since October and orders have been raised to make the signs and lines clearer.

“Everyone has the right to appeal their ticket to the council and to an adjudicator.”

A total 2,551 tickets were issued across the whole of South End between April 2010 and April 2011, bringing in £140,953 for the council.

You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines and find free parking in London by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.

Simply text the word Parking and the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the station closest to it on the same line.

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According to a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, the three year deal will cover online parking software and other “innovative” applications. The chosen supplier will be expected to support and manage a cash payment option available through local outlets for members of the public wishing to pay for parking spaces.

“The service provider will be required to ensure customers can set up a parking session in a variety of ways to include payment by SMS, touchtone, mobile and web,” it says.

A website service and call centre operation will also be required to support the service and the service provider must ensure their system integrates, if necessary, with the current parking systems used by each contracting organisation.

The council also expects the chosen supplier to allocate unique pay by phone location references to all parking bays and to supply and install signage about the system in relevant locations.

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The rises were branded a ‘rip off’ by unions and one passenger group said commuters had been hit with a ‘double whammy’.

Southeastern, which runs services between London and Kent and Sussex, raised daily charges at 28 stations – many up by 50p or £1.

For example, the cost of parking for the day at Robertsbridge station in East Sussex has jumped by £1 to £4 – a 33 per cent rise. Not all companies are introducing inflation-busting rises – First Capital Connect has increased the price of a parking season ticket at Arlesey station in Bedfordshire by £27 to £925, up 3 per cent.

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The Evening Standard revealed recently that while the official figure used throughout the public consultation into plans to replace single-yellow lines with pay & display bays across the West End was 1,700, the true number is more than 8,400.

The correct figure was only included in the appendix of a report which critics say was “sneaked out” at 3.30pm on December 23, as Londoners were winding down for Christmas. Martin Low, the council’s commissioner for transport, blamed an email blunder for the mistake.

He said: “I had asked colleagues in an email for the total length of single-yellow lines to be converted into charging bays in metres, but I was supplied with the number of bays. I mistakenly thought I had been given the length in metres, so I divided the figure by five [the average length of a bay is five metres], and that is why there is the discrepancy.”

But while Mr Low apologised for the error, the architect of the plan to axe free evening and Sunday parking spaces across the West End – which has now been placed on hold by a High Court judge until after the Olympics – was less contrite.

Councillor Lee Rowley, said: “The council highlighted the mistake by making the correct information available on its website.”

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Labour’s leader on the council, said blaming an administrative error was “simply not good enough” and called on Mike More, the council’s chief executive, to launch a formal investigation. Mr Dimoldenberg said: “People deserve a proper explanation.”

Westminster says removing the free evening and Sunday spaces is vital to keep traffic flowing. But an alliance of business leaders said the plan would sound the death knell for the area and put the safety of night-time workers at risk.

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And it seems that local residents are amongst the best in London at paying up when they get a fine. More than three-quarters of those who received a ticket paid their fine, and 65% of motorists paid within the 14-day period which gives them a discount .

Hounslow Council launched its inaugural Annual Parking and Traffic Enforcement Report this week which it said would give road users in the borough more information than ever before about traffic enforcement

The report details that the number of penalties issued by the council has been reduced. In 2010/11 the amount of Penalty Charge Notices ( PCNs) issued has fell over 5% to 139,728, from 147,411 contraventions from the same period in 2008/09.

The report also details that Hounslow Council performs in the top 25% of London boroughs for its collection of parking fines. For 2010/11, 77% of PCNs issued were paid, and 65% of motorists who received a PCN paid within 14 days and therefore were charged a discounted rate.

The council’s parking team has also outlined the top ten ‘hot spots’ in the borough, giving road users information on the areas of highest contraventions identified and enforced. This will enable motorists to note where contraventions are most likely to occur and take action to avoid similar parking errors.

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The anouncement, made at 3.30pm on 23rd December, comes just a week after the High Court ordered Westminster to halt plans to impose evening and Sunday parking charges in the West End on 9th January until the Judicial Review was heard in March. The High Court judgment specifically criticised the Council’s consultations and made it clear that the new parkjing charges would damage businesses and their employees. Westminster Council subsequently announced that it would ‘listen’ to West End residents, business and their staff and would not introduce the new charges until September 2012, after the Olympic Games. Now, those promises have turned out to be totally worthless.

The permanent loss of the 1,200 West End parking spaces will force many West End evening visitors and people working in West End theatres, restaurants, clubs, casinos to pay up to £20 a night to park on a parking meter bay or car park, thereby adding to the cost of visiting or working in the West End. A reserch study undertaken by the Centre for Economics and Business Research concluded that the Council’s parking chargs, which would raise the Council an extra £7 million a year, could cost businesses up to £800 million and threaten 5,100 jobs.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said;

“This is an outrageous decision to take just hours before the Council closes for Christmas. The arrogance of Westminster’s Conservative leaders knows no bounds. They will listen to nobody and are even trying to get round a High Court judgment. This is the unwanted ‘Christmas present’ for the West End”

“The removal of so many single yellow line parking spaces in the West End will effectively force many visitors and staff working in the West End evening economy to pay up to £20 a night extra. This is a back door way of introducing the parking charges and there must be a question if the Council is in contempt of court.”

“Removing 1,200 single yellow lines is not about making it safer for pedestrians or drivers, but it is all about reducing free parking spaces and thereby raising extra money for a Council that is in deep financial difficulties”.

You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines and find free parking in London by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.

Simply text the word Parking and the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the station closest to it on the same line.