The anti-fraud team at Harrow Council, supported by police officers and parking enforcement staff, set up camp at Greenhill Way from 12 noon and 6pm on Wednesday last week, where they found 16 of all motorists monitored were using the badges illegally.

Blue Badges are issued to disabled residents allowing them to park for free on single and double yellow lines, in disabled bays and park and display bays.

But in the six hour crackdown 16 of the 32 drivers checked by officers were found to be abusing the system.
Officers spoke with motorists in legitimate possession of the badges who gave the thumbs up to the council crackdown, hoping that it would ensure the spaces were freed up for those who really need them.

A sentiment shared by Avani Modasia, Chief Executive of Age Concern Harrow, who said: “We absolutely welcome this type of campaign by the council because it helps to free up spaces for people who really, genuinely need them.

“I would say to people who are abusing the badge or using it fraudulently to think about the people they are taking these parking spaces away from.” All of the motorists found to be parked illegally had their badges confiscated and were issued with penalty charge notices.

They will all now be interviewed at a later date and may face criminal proceeding which could result in fines up to £1,000 in court.

It was the second operation of its kind to have carried out by the council in the past month and Councillor Graham Henson, responsible for performance, customer services and corporate services on Harrow Council, added they would continue to work to cut out the fraud.

He said: “We want people to understand that if they use the badges illegally they are depriving someone who really needs the parking space.

“Older residents and people with mobility problems rely on blue badges to keep their independence.
“It is important that as a council we protect their right to these spaces and in turn their access to Harrow’s facilities.

“We will keep the pressure up on offenders so the message to them is that if we haven’t caught you yet, then it’s just a matter of time.”

Harrow Observer

The total punishment for driving offences, including speeding and parking violations, works out at a staggering £10billion. Those in London rack up the highest lifetime tally, with an average of £680, while those in Northern Ireland tot up only £90.

The research, by insurance company Esure, found that 34 per cent of drivers have been fined for speeding at least once and 6 per cent have been caught three or more times. Nearly four in ten have been slapped with at least one parking fine and one in 14 are serial offenders with three or more tickets.

The survey of 1,017 motorists for the car insurance website found that more 30% of motorists are confused by the myriad of parking rules and regulations. Others admit they do not know many of the other highway laws which could lead to fines. Nearly half of men have been caught speeding and more than four out of ten have received a parking ticket.

That compares to just a quarter of women drivers penalised for breaking the speed limit and 27% who have been ticketed by traffic wardens. It leaves men paying out £152 on average for speeding and £111 on parking tickets while women will pay only £79 and £ 75 for the same offences.

The £283 average takes into account the fact that some drivers will have a near blemish-free record while serial offenders may clock up many thousands of pounds. About 7% of drivers have been fined at least once for disobeying road signs and 5 per cent prosecuted for traffic light offences.

Five per cent have been penalised for seat belt offences and 4 per cent for careless driving. Mike Pickard, esure’s head of risk and underwriting, said: ‘Running a car can be very costly, particularly with rising fuel costs. Avoidable charges for driving offences only make this more expensive.

‘Speeding and using a mobile phone while driving not only add points to a motorist’s licence but put drivers and other road-users at risk. Making changes such as slowing down and driving more carefully will not only help make roads safer but also leave you better off financially.’

The figures follow last week’s disclosure that speed cameras and red light traps brought in £87million in the year to March 2009 – the latest period for which figures are available.

Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond has vowed to ‘end the war on the motorist’ but road groups said they will be watching carefully to ensure the Coalition Government’s actions match his words.

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 one closest to it on the same line.

A judge rejected claims by Warren Djanogly, of No To Motorbike Parking Fees, that the authority introduced it simply to raise revenue. He also turned down claims the council did not conduct a full consultation before bringing in the charge, now operational across the borough.

The ruling may have wide-reaching implications, with other boroughs now also likely to consider charging motorcyclists to park.

Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Maddison, said the council had “perfectly legitimate objectives” in bringing in the fee to help regulate traffic. He added: “While there were traffic management and environmental arguments for and against treating motorcycles as a special case, it does not seem … the council acted outside its powers by resolving that all road users should pay their fair share for on-street provision of spaces.”

He said the charge was introduced “to improve on-street parking availability for motorcyclists in order to meet actual and anticipated increased demand. The existence of that need cannot be seriously challenged. The evidence was overwhelming.”

The judge said the influx of motorcyclists into Westminster following the start of the congestion charge in 2003 demonstrated “the continuing need for measures of “restraint”, which was the basis for the auth- ority’s policy in the first place.”

Westminster said it would seek to recover its legal costs of £50,000.

Over the past year the campaign group has held weekly demonstrations in Westminster, with “go-slow” rides in and around Trafalgar Square in the morning and evening rush hours to “paralyse” central London and turn the spotlight on their campaign. Motorcyclists have also taken their protests to the entrance of Westminster City Hall in Victoria.

Lee Rowley, Westminster’s cabinet member for parking and transportation, said: “Our decision to charge motorcyclists £1 per day to park has been rigorously scrutinised, open to widespread public debate and has now been tested in the High Court.

“We have always maintained that with huge demand for on-street space here, charging motorcyclists a small sum to park was fair and I’m glad the judge has reiterated this.

“This is not about the council versus motorcyclists, who we see as an important part of central London’s transport mix. We were one of the UK’s first local authorities to permit motorcycles in bus lanes and we will always want to work with the motorcycling community.”

Motorcyclists are charged to use any dedicated on-street bay. The council says it will hold the charge at £1 a day for three years. Riders can park free in its car parks.

This is london

A study by Big Brother Watch found just 54 of the modified Smart cars have punished an astonishing 188,000 motorists.

The survey found 31 councils across Britain have versions of the popular town car modified with a 15ft mast and CCTV camera.

Only 25 were able to provide figures but they showed they raked in £323,000 each at a rate of £188,000 per car.

Officials park the spy cars at known “hot spots” where they video motorists. Specialists later trawl through the footage looking for offenders.

Most of the 31 councils that operate the cars are in London. Ilford in east London admitted it bought one of the £40,000 cars specifically to monitor “inconsiderate” parents parking outside schools.

Greater Manchester’s car is used to catch drivers “using their mobile phones or being otherwise distracted”.

Haringey in north London says it uses CCTV cars to catch parking violations as well as traffic offences.

Dylan Sharpe, of Big Brother Watch, said: “The car represents a very dangerous escalation in Britain’s surveillance society.”

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 one closest to it on the same line.

Daily Express

The Metropolitan Police (Met) said the incident happened at 1015 BST, on the first floor car park at the Arcadia shopping centre in Ealing.

Luckily, the driver managed to clamber out of the vehicle and was unhurt.

An Arcadia shopping centre spokeswoman said an elderly lady had been driving the car, but the Met is yet to confirm who was in the vehicle when it crashed.

The car park is about 50ft (15.24m) above the ground.

London Ambulance Service said they treated a man in his 60s who was taken to Ealing hospital with minor injuries.

The Conservative-run council claims the scheme failed in its aim to encourage residents to change their cars to lower emission models. Richmond is still London’s worst polluting borough for CO2, with more cars in the highest polluting band than when the scheme started, it says.

The CO2 scheme, which applies to controlled parking zones within Richmond, was subsequently adopted by Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Haringey Lambeth, York, Brighton and Edinburgh councils.

The council says it is not ‘anti-environment but this scheme has proved it is not the way to achieve real change to emissions levels’, a spokesman said.

Council leader, Nicholas True, said: ‘We need effective green policies that help, not hurt. If we are to fight climate change and engage public support in it, we need policies that apply to all and discourage use of large-polluting vehicles. Richmond’s CPZ tax utterly failed that test.

‘It is regressive. It hurts residents in smaller terraced houses in a minority of roads with controlled parking, while letting those in big houses with drives off scot-free, no matter how many gas guzzlers they owned.’

Instead, as part of a package of ‘Fair Parking’ policies, the council plans to introduce 30 minutes free parking to local residents where on-street and off-street sites are levied.

The council’s new parking policies will go before the cabinet on 12 July.

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 one closest to it on the same line.

The passes will be for council-run pay-and-display car parks for parents of pupils at St Jude’s and St Cuthbert’s schools, both in Bagshot Road.

Runnymede Council’s economic development committee gave the scheme the go-ahead on Thursday last week.

School dropping-off and collection times are causing problems across the borough with accusations that mums are parking inconsiderately or dangerously, reducing traffic to single file causing tailbacks, and blocking site lines.

Residents in Virginia Water, for example, suffer because of the three schools in the village, and Magna Carta School in Egham Hythe.

The committee intends to roll out the scheme across the borough, so thousands of car park spaces could be lost to parents each weekday morning and afternoon.

Jen Kensey, co-owner of Honeychurch Deli in St Jude’s Road, Englefield Green said she wasn’t worried that giving parents passes for the car park would hit trade.

“They park there now, so the plans should not make a difference to trade.” She went on to say that her mother lives in nearby Larksfield, where parents dropping off their children do cause problems. Cars are often parked in corners so you can’t see vehicles coming from the other end.”

An informal arrangement of the car park scheme has been in place to help parents with children at St Jude’s School and St Cuthbert’s School, both in Bagshot Road, which have limited parking spaces.

A similar project was launched in Chertsey, where parents of children at St Anne’s School use the council’s library car park free of charge between 8.30am and 9.15am and 2.55pm and 3.40pm. The council claims this has led to a ‘significant’ reduction in traffic parking in narrow Free Prae Road at those times.

Committee chairman, Cllr Pat Roberts, described the move as ‘responsible activity’ and said St Jude’s Road car park was not regularly used anyway.

He added: “As there is an infant and junior school down there it’s under-standable parents will want to get close. This is really to legalise what has been unofficial for some time.”

The parent of one St Jude’s pupil, who did not wish to be named, felt it would encourage laziness. He said: “Too many parents drive unnecessarily, and they want to park two metres from the school gates. They end up taking up spaces which could be used by those who live out of the village and actually need to drive.”

Council enforcement officers will patrol the car parks to ensure that no parent over-stays without paying.

Motorists in London are being consulted on how much they should pay for parking fines.

Drivers will also be questioned about what levels of fines should be imposed for entering bus lanes and box junctions, and how much it should cost to be released from wheel clamps.

It is part of a three-month consultation by London Councils and Transport for London (TfL).

A final decision will be made on 9 December with new charges coming into effect from 1 April 2011.

The amount of penalties charged is reviewed every four years.

The last consultation in 2006 resulted in the introduction of the two-tier parking system in July 2007.

This means all contraventions on TfL roads and the more serious infringements on London borough roads incur a higher penalty than other contraventions.

Londoners and other interested parties will be asked whether they think the two-tier system works or whether there should be a single level of penalty charge.

Chairwoman of London Councils Transport and Environment Committee, Councillor Catherine West, said: “We know that parking penalties are a contentious issue and we are encouraging everyone to have their say in this consultation.

“We must ensure penalties are at the right level to deter motorists from stopping the flow of traffic by parking illegally or carrying out dangerous manoeuvres which put other road users at risk.

“We also recognise motorists like everyone else are facing tough times and we want to be as fair as possible in parking enforcement.”

The consultation runs from until 30 September 2010.

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 one closest to it on the same line.

Even though the fees are banned in Scotland and Wales, hospitals in England make more than £100million a year from forcing patients to pay before they can park their vehicle.

Now, Trafford General has bucked the trend – announcing that from this summer, patients and visitors can part for free.

But those unlucky enough to have to go to England’s 172 other hospital trusts will continue to face hourly rates ranging from 30p to £4 – charges critics have lambasted as a ‘tax on the sick’.

The board of Trafford healthcare trust decided to scrap its charges. Parking is free at some small community or outpatient facilities in England – but this is the first time a major general hospital has made the change.

The trust said it would benefit many thousands of patients, relatives and other visitors each year. Chief executive Ron Calvert said: ‘We listen carefully to patients and their visitors and it is clear they find paying for hospital parking an unnecessary stress, expense and hassle.

‘Our mission is to provide excellent healthcare in a safe, clean and caring environment that puts patients’ needs first. That is why we are making Trafford General the first acute hospital to offer free parking to patients and visitors. ’We believe we are leading the way in putting patients’ needs first.’

The free parking will come into effect in the summer, when work to improve the car parks is completed.
There will be barrier-controlled entry to the public car parks – but patients and visitors will be given an exit pass entitling them to leave the car parks without paying.

Hospital staff will continue to pay charges.

English hospitals have been raking in more than £111million a year for car parking – with 23 trusts collecting more than £1million each from parking in 2007/08.

Top of the list was Addenbroke’s, in Cambridge, which collected £2.8million from patients, visitors and staff. Walsgrave Hospital, in Coventry, was close behind, on £2.7million. The overall amount pocketed by trusts was up from £102million the previous year.

And many hospitals are flouting guidelines which say they must offer discounts to patients being treated for long-term illnesses, by using the ruse of not publicising the scheme.

In May last year, hospital security guard Vicky Winn resigned in protest over having to charge distressed patients to park their cars.

Miss Winn, 44, quit her job at Basildon hospital, in Essex, after she was disciplined for letting cars out without paying.
When Wales announced two years ago that it would scrap charges across the country, the Department of Health in England said it would be ‘contrary to the Government’s climate change objectives’ – because it would encourage people to use cars rather than the bus.

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Making people in need of hospital treatment cough up twice or even three times for their care is very far from the NHS ideal of free at the point of use.’

Daily Mail 1/7/10

Stays in 513 local pay-and-display bays on Saturdays will remain without charge for an extended period as part of a pilot project from Islington Council.

The free parking was introduced earlier this year to help shoppers and shops alike, and to encourage visitors to the area to support local businesses.

Local traders and campaigners have welcomed the move as a welcome boost to help Archway overcome the effects of the recession.

Hak Huseyin, chairman of the Archway Town Centre Management Group, said: “This has certainly helped Saturday trading in Archway and we are hoping that this turns into a permanent arrangement.”

Councillor Catherine West, leader of Islington Council, said: “Archway is a great place and the free parking on Saturdays has been very popular. This continuation of the free parking trial is part of our ongoing work to improve the whole of Archway. We’re committed to helping businesses across Islington.”

The scheme is being monitored on an ongoing basis for its impact on local businesses and parking.

It applies in Pay and Display parking bays in Archway’s Controlled Parking Zone P, which includes bays in Junction Road, Magdala Avenue, Dartmouth Park Hill, St John’s Grove and some bays in side streets.