More Parking Ticket Refunds...Now Stoke on Trent

Subject: [abdml] CITY PARKING FREE-FOR-ALL

Motorists can park without the risk of being fined at car parks at the
centre of a dispute over unlawfully issued fines.

Stoke-on-trent City Council has confirmed that it is not taking enforcement action on car parks at Stoke-on-Trent College, the Potteries Shopping Centre, Century and Octagon retail parks in Etruria and Lidl in Longton.
Drivers who don't pay for parking and those whose tickets have ran out will not receive fines. At the Potteries Shopping Centre, a token and barrier system will make it impossible for motorists to escape without paying for their ticket although it will be a parking free-for-all at the other four car parks.

The move comes after it emerged the council could be forced to pay back thousands of unlawfully-issued parking fines.

A landmark ruling by the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS) says an agreement between the college and the council means penalties dished out by the authority at the college car park are illegal.

Since 2001, 834 fines have been given out at the college, but the agreement was signed in 1993 - casting doubt on the validity of thousands more fines.

The authority is considering an appeal in the High Court, but officials accept they may have to repay the charges, which for the 834 motorists totalled £26,411.

No records of the identity of punished motorists exist before 2001 - paving the way for a legal and administrative nightmare for the council.

Similar agreements exist at the other car parks but the city council says it is confident fines are lawful, although it is seeking legal advice and has abandoned enforcement action at all of them as well as at the college.

A spokesman for the city council said: "These car parks are not necessarily operated under the same sort of agreement as with the college. We are still studying the adjudication in detail but it is currently our view that it is limited to Stoke-on-Trent College Car Park.

"The council is not currently enforcing at the car parks mentioned while we study the adjudication and decide whether an appeal is appropriate. We believe most people are honest and they will continue to pay."

The NPAS ruling, which has implications for councils across the country, follows an appeal by Philip Jones, a director of Springfield China in Longton, against a fine issued at the college in 2004.

Mr Jones argued one of his employees could not be punished by the city council because the authority does not own or occupy the land and because it is the college which actually provides the parking service.

His arguments were accepted by NPAS last year and the council was ordered to repay the charge.

Under the agreement, the money raised from parking charges goes to the owners of the car parks while the fines go to the city council