Rochdale MP asks Parking questions in the House of Commons

We brought the problem of Rochdale Council's 'void and unenforceable' Penalty Charge Notices to the attention of Rochdale MP, Paul Rowen, who also happens to be the Liberal Democrat Transport spokeman.
Rochdale Council has a problem in that it has issued 26,000 Penalty Charge Notices that are incorrectly worded and are therefore'void and unenforceable.'
The Council have been hit with a series of questions and the clock is ticking. They cannot keep unlawfully derived income and their problem is that to admit that they are wrong opens up a massive can of worms for the National Parking Adjudication Service who will have adjudicated on numerous Rochdale appeals.
The question for them will have to be, 'Why didn't you notice?'

The questions and responses are in Hansard below.

Parking Offences (Decriminalisation)

Paul Rowen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport
(1) what assessment he has made of the 31 Oct 2005 :
Column 671W process by which power was transferred from the police to local authorities following the decriminalisation of parking offences; what steps he took to ensure that this was a smooth transition of authority; and if he will make a statement; [22882]
(2) what guidelines he has provided for local authorities to ensure the validity of penalty charge notices since the decriminalisation of parking offences; [23077]
(3) what assessment he has made of the management of parking offences by local authorities since decriminalisation of parking offences; and if he will make a statement. [23078]

Ms Buck:
The Road Traffic Act 1991 provides for the decriminalisation of most non-endorseable on-street parking offences in London and allows similar arrangements to be introduced elsewhere. Research for the Department by the Transport Research Laboratory ("Special Parking Areas in London"; "The Special Parking Area in the District of Winchester"; and "The Special Parking Area in Oxford") showed that decriminalised parking enforcement provides local authorities with greater control over their enforcement activity and an enhanced ability to deliver their parking strategies.

The Department partly funded the British Parking Association's recent review of decriminalised parking enforcement, which concluded that the existing system works well but that it would benefit from some modifications.

In 1995, the Secretary of State issued detailed guidance for local authorities in England outside of London on applying for, introducing and operating decriminalised parking enforcement. The guidance—local authority circular 1/95—makes clear that local authorities should liaise with the police to ensure a smooth and orderly transfer of responsibilities and that they should, therefore, continue to liaise with the police so that the two systems can operate effectively side-by-side.

When applying for the power to enforce parking regulations, authorities have to submit detailed applications to the Department for Transport which need to confirm, among other things, that the authority will review its existing Traffic Regulation Orders, signs and road markings and use suitable documentation—including an appropriate penalty charge notice (PCN)—when enforcing contraventions.

The appropriate police authority is asked whether it supports the application.

Circular 1/95 also makes clear that the Government expect authorities to have regard to the minimum or common standards set out in that guidance. The information that must appear on a penalty charge notice is set out in the Road Traffic Act 1991. The Secretary of State's 1/95 guidance provides further suggestions about information that should be provided on penalty charge notices.

The Department is considering options for strengthening the existing system for the civil enforcement of parking contraventions while drafting regulations and guidance under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2005.

We have established an expert working group to help us take this work forward and aim to carry out public consultation in spring 2006.

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