Sunderland's Parking Regime and Councillors blogs

Rob Ford
The Letters Editor
Sunderland Echo
Sunderland

16th January 2007

Dear Sir,

Sunderland City Council's 'Parking Enforcement' regime

As the press seem to be maintaining a low profile on the issue further information needs to be placed in the public domain in order to assist those motorists illegally fined by Sunderland City Council who may now wish to raise their own complaints.

In August 2006 the High Court decreed that Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) which did not bear the date of issue (as well as the date and time of the contravention) were invalid. The Judge stated that 'if the PCN is not correctly worded then no financial liability arises.' Sunderland City Council issued 75,000 such PCNs ... over 12,000 AFTER the Assistant City Solicitor had ordered NCP to correct the wording.

In late 2006 I received information from the Department for Transport and the Government Office for the North East that highlighted the fact that Sunderland were ignoring the law and using illegally marked bays. One example was in Holmeside where the illegal bays were only some 1.55m wide ... not enough to fit a car in, never mind the 13 tonne+ lorries which park there. Perhaps the detractor who wrote complaining that people should stop measuring and just pay their fines may have a different view if a child was knocked down because a lorry parked in an illegal bay (which had actually been placed within the zigzags of a pelican crossing) obscured theirs and the drivers view. The bays were hastily remarked ( again incorrectly) ... an admission that they were not legal. If you have had a ticket in Holmeside have you had your refund yet?

There is lots more information to come and not always reported in the press. All this and more is posted on the blog www.neilherron.blogspot.com

Nice to see our Labour councillors have their own blogs too ... and as Councillor Les Scott wrote "Members of the Labour Group took a decision considered over three months to devote a percentage of their allowances to promote Labours achievements in Sunderland and to establish individual websites and blogs for its councillors."
After all, in this new computer age it is important that anyone wishing to see if their councillor is value for money can do so at the click of a button. Let's see how our money is being spent...Here are the results of the Cabinet members blogs for example:

Councillor Bob Symond's blog ... 1 posting on 4th September 2006
Councillor Dave Allen's blog ... 1 posting on 27th September 2006
Councillor Joseph Lawson's blog ... 0 posts (perhaps too busy investigating the failures of his portfolio)
Councillor Bryan Charlton 's blog... 1 post on 11th October 2006 saying he was off to the gym. Is he still there? Is he in Rocky 6?
Councillor Mel Speding's blog ... 2 posts He writes: "Hopefully, I can master the bloggers guide and produce a blog that is informative and useful. I intend to update regularly and hope to give an insight into both my role as a ward councillor and as a cabinet member."
Councillor Paul Watson's blog ... 2 posts, last one 4th October.
Councillor H Truman's blog ... 1 post 11th December
Councillor Pat Smith's blog ... 0 posts
Councillor Eric Timmin's blog ... 1 post 11th December
...to promote the work of Sunderland councillors! I think that just about sums it up

Well done to Councillor Kath Rolph who appears to be the only portfolio holder taking the responsibility for informing the public of her activities seriously.

Yours sincerely,


Neil Herron
12 Frederick Street
Sunderland
SR1 1NA