Council Accused of rank cover-up

Council Accused of rank cover-up

Error came to light 21 months ago

By Ross Smith, (0191) 201-6286
ross.smith@ncjmedia.co.uk

Council bosses were accused of a cover up last night after it was revealed that they knew £21,000 had been collected from invalid parking tickets nearly two years ago.

Traffic wardens had been handing fines to drivers parked on taxi ranks in Sunderland, but had no power to do so - and the error was discovered in November 2003, the council has admitted.

But since then, the correct orders have not been put in place.

And a decision to repay the 700 fines handed out before then was only made public this week after The Journal made enquiries about the anomaly.

When asked why the offers of repayment had only been made 21months later, when news of the error appeared in The Journal a council spokeswoman said: "It's something that we're looking into."

Political campaigner Neil Herron, whose investigations uncovered the loophole, said: " It appears as though they've been covering this up for nearly two years.

"If they're supposed to be transparent and honest, why the obfuscation and the wriggling?
"I think there now needs to be a full, thorough investigation by an independent outside body.

"They haven't volunteered this money back - it had to be forced out of them.

"I believe this is the tip of a very large iceberg.

Conservative group leader on the council Peter Wood said: "It's appalling. I can't think of any legitimate excuse, quite frankly.

"I will speak to the chairman of the environment review committee, Coun David Tate, and ask that the matter appears on the next agenda of that committee.

"Frankly, the best thing would be for the chairman himself to put it on the agenda and summon [director of development and regeneration] Phil Barrett and any appropriate colleagues to give a full explanation in a sufficiently contrite manner."

The council says traffic wardens have issued no tickets for the offence since the error was discovered.
Officers responsible for taxi licensing, as well as police, do have the power to hand out fines.

Mr Barrett said: "Work is currently in hand to introduce an order which would enable ranks to be enforced using the decriminalised parking scheme.

"However; a statutory and legal process means this will take some time."