Joe keeps parking job

Sunderland Echo
Thursday, November 2, 2006
By Ross Robertson

An under-fire councillor is still in charge of Sunderland Council's controversial parking refime today despite calls last night for his resignation.

An extraordinary meeting was called by Conservatives demanding Coun Joe Lawson quit his post as cabinet member for transport following a TV documentary which allegedly showed city parking attendants making racist remarks and abusing their power.

Tories say Coun Lawson's department should be scrapped, the city's parking contract with NCP terminated and parking penalties refunded to motorists in light of the allegations made in BBC1's Inside Out show.

At the meeting last night in Sunderland Civic Centre's council chamber, Tory leader Coun Lee Martin described the parking system in the city as a "mess" and council leaders of failing to monitor the company sufficiently.

He added: "Either NCP knew what was going on and turned a blind eye, or they didn't have a clue, which is complete failure of management."

Coun Martin also criticised Coun Lawson for being unaware of the nuclear waste train passing through the city, problems with housing, delays in planning applications and poor public transport.

But Labour's majority stood firm behind Coun Lawson, and the motion was defeated by 45 votes to 16.

Speaking before the vote, Coun Lawson attacked the Conservatives, accusing them of jumping on an "unfair media bandwagon" and that the parking enforcement regime in the city was "legally robust, lawful and enforceable."
"I will not be resigning. I believe, and my colleagues believe, that I'm doing a reasonable job," he said.

Neil's yard protest
Parking protester and metric martyr Neil Herron believes council traffic orders are illegitimate - because they give the measurements in yards rather than metres.
Mr Herron, who took on the council over the prosecution of greengrocer Steven Thoburn for selling bananas in imperial measures, said a number of traffic orders use yards.
But a Department for Trade and Industry spokesman said that the department's advice was to use metric, but it was not aware it was illegal to use imperial