The fine mess continues ... now Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton Councils in trouble

Today we make front page of the Northern Echo

Car parking fines may be cancelled

TWO North-East councils could cancel thousands of unpaid parking tickets as a result of a court ruling, The Northern Echo has learnt.

Stockton Borough Council is taking legal advice over whether parking charge notices it issued during the course of a year were invalid.

Last night, it emerged that Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council was putting on hold outstanding fines from a two-and-a-half-year period. Both have apparently fallen foul of a judge's ruling that parking tickets must carry on them the date of issue and the date on which the offence was committed.

Stockton altered its procedures in September, but could still be forced to write off an estimated 3,600 outstanding tickets, along with the tens of thousands of pounds in fines that would have resulted from their payment.

Redcar, meanwhile, is trying to establish how many outstanding fines are affected by what it called a "technicality".

However, in line with other similarly-affected councils, it said motorists who had already paid would not get their money back, since they are thought to have accepted liability.

Last night, parking campaigner Neil Herron, who has uncovered mistakes in parking enforcement at Sunderland City Council, said:
"There is a domino effect that is hitting every local council that has failed to correctly draft parking charge notices.
"Effectively, an amnesty has been created for all unpaid parking tickets that are non-compliant.
"We predicted this several months ago, and now the penny is starting to drop in bucketloads.
"This is not a technicality, as local authorities are trying to have us believe, it is a fundamental legal requirement and they have failed to apply the law correctly."

The issue hinges on a case, heard in August in the High Court, in London, when a judge ruled that Barnet Council had acted incorrectly in only including the date of issue on its parking charge notices.

It was forced to cancel a number of outstanding "old style" penalty charge notices and lost about £87,000.

Subsequently, a number of councils that did not include both dates have been forced into making changes to their ticketing arrangements.

Stockton council it is yet to confirm whether it will cancel unpaid tickets.

A spokeswoman said: "In September 2005, it became the council's responsibility for issuing penalty charge notices to vehicles parked in contravention of traffic regulations.
"The council's legal service is considering the possibility that tickets issued from that date may not be valid due to a technicality."

Redcar and Cleveland council said: "From the start of this financial year, all parking contravention notices issued have been in compliance with the High Court ruling.
"We were keen to act in a fair and equitable manner and have been advised to put all outstanding payments on hold. We are in the process of establishing the total number of unpaid fines affected by this technicality."