Starting to cave-in in Bournemouth?

Last week the Head of Parking Services and the legal department were put on notice that if the money wasn't repaid to the drivers then it would become a Police matter.
Amazing to watch Bournemouth's u-turn.
Independent Cllr Ron has been given background information by the campaign.

Bournemouth Daily Echo
PAYBACK TIME
By Daily Echo reporter
BOURNEMOUTH'S council chief has pledged to identify and refund motorists that paid invalid parking fines over the last few years.
The revelations that Bournemouth council had enforced incorrect parking fines had been labelled a "non-story".
But chief executive Pam Donnellan has now assured councillors that the situation is being sorted.
In an e-mail to Cllr Ron Whittaker, she confirmed the borough's 4,000 Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) were being thoroughly checked.

"We will, of course, seek to refund any fines which were not duly authorised," she said.
Last week the council said it "strongly disagreed" with the employment tribunal's ruling that former parking attendant Arsenal Whittick had been bullied and unfairly dismissed after he refused to hand out invalid tickets.

But in a bulletin sent to all members, Mrs Donnellan said: "We have learnt from this ruling and changed the way we will deal with any similar situations in future."
And she added: "It is important to emphasise that the vast proportion of tickets issued are valid.
"We should not allow the tiny number of errors to be used successfully by those people wanting to undermine the integrity of this important public service, the aim of which is to promote safety and free flow of traffic.
"However, the perception that the council has acted unlawfully is damaging to our reputation and we need to take steps to re-establish our credibility.
"Drivers can be confident that if there is a yellow line marked on the road, then the intention is that a parking restriction shall apply."

She said that checks had already identified a handful of discrepancies, which would be corrected.
And she stressed that any notion of the council issuing tickets inappropriately to raise funds and ignoring the rulings of the tribunal was completely wrong.
But Independent Cllr Ron Whittaker said he still wants to see a definitive list of roads that were not covered by TROs but enforced by parking attendants and details of the action taken to correct these anomalies.
He is also demanding to know why it took so long to correct these errors when the tribunal heard parking attendants were fully aware of stretches of road not covered by TROs.
"I really do find that this whole unpleasant matter has been extremely badly handled right from the start," he said.
"It seems that we, as a council, were fully aware of those roads where there was not valid TRO and continued to do nothing about it."
9:43am Friday 2nd June 2006

Below is the letter sent to the Head of Parking Services, Mr. Gerry Bolland:


Gerry Bolland
Parking Services Manager
Parking Shop
Bournemouth Borough CouncilTown Hall, Bourne AvenueBournemouth.
BH2 6DY

26th May 2006

Dear Mr. Bolland,

Freedom of Information Request

I would be grateful for the following:

1. The number and value of PCNs issued by Bournemouth Council which did not bear a date of issue in the main body of the PCN and the number that were appealed to NPAS?

2. The number and value of PCNs issued in areas where there is no valid Traffic Regulation Order in place?

3. Details of any internal communications (written, verbal and e-mail) regarding the issuing of PCNs in locations which do not have a valid TRO.

4. The number of PCNs appealed to NPAS where a TRO was not supplied by the Council.

5. A copy of Bournemouth's DPE application to the Department for Transport.

I would be grateful if you could also provide details of Bournemouth Council's Treasurer and District Auditor.

I am sure that there will be more matters arising, and as we are being contacted by members of the public regarding Bournemouth PCNs I am sure that you will deal with my request within the necessary timeframe.

Yours sincerely,


Neil Herron

The People's No Campaign
12 Frederick Street
Sunderland
SR1 1NA