Questions to Ged Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council

Here is a copy of the letter sent to the Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council on 1st March 2007.

Ged Fitzgerald
Sunderland City Council
Civic Centre
Sunderland
SR2 7DN
1st March 2007 by e-mail and Recorded Delivery.

Dear Mr. Fitzgerald,

It has been brought to my attention that there are currently still 260 locations in Sunderland which have wrongly drafted Traffic Regulation Orders or incorrect bays / missing signs.

Can you confirm this to be the case?

Can you confirm that instructions have been given to NCP to continue to enforce in those locations until 'complaints are raised by third parties?'

May I remind you that it is now some four years AFTER the date that Sunderland City Council told the Department for Transport that all the lines, signs and Traffic Orders would be correct and in force.

When being issued with a document purporting to be a Penalty Charge Notice this morning, the NCP Parking Attendant and Supervisor refused to ackowledge my request to identify whether the place my vehicle was parked was one of the 260 locations identified above, and refused to record anything to that effect in their pocketbooks.

I have already brought it to the attention of Northumbria Police and have copied DC Gary Hetherington into this request.
I will await your response before deciding which course of action to pursue.

Further to this, the Pay and Display machine still remains uncovered (and turned off) in Frederick Street and there is no notice to members of the public to indicate that the restriction is not in force (already confirmed by three separate adjudicators that the TRO was wrongly drafted).
Motorists are continuing to purchase pay and display tickets from nearby St. Thomas Street when parking in Frederick Street.

As Sunderland City Council have no valid and therefore legal restriction in force in the parking places in Frederick Street can you please confirm that ALL unlawfully derived monies (from fines and pay and display tickets) will be refunded from the date that the wrongly drafted Traffic Order was sealed by the City Solicitor.

I would be grateful for a response on the points raised forthwith and confirm that a copy will be made available to all elected members.

Yours sincerely,

Neil Herron
12 Frederick Street
Sunderland
SR1 1NA


Fraud Act 2006

3 Fraud by failing to disclose information

A person is in breach of this section if he-

(a) dishonestly fails to disclose to another person information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, and

(b) intends, by failing to disclose the information-

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

4 Fraud by abuse of position

(1) A person is in breach of this section if he-

(a) occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person,

(b) dishonestly abuses that position, and

(c) intends, by means of the abuse of that position-

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

(2) A person may be regarded as having abused his position even though his conduct consisted of an omission rather than an act.