New regulations will make for fairer parking

On Monday 31 March 2008 new regulations will be introduced in Shropshire, along with the rest of England and Wales, which will see the first nationwide changes to on-street parking enforcement since 1993.

These new regulations should provide motorists with a fairer enforcement service across the country, helping raise industry standards in parking.

What is presently called Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE), adopted by Shropshire in November 2006, will now be referred to as Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) and, legally speaking, parking attendants will become civil enforcement officers, although people in the county will still see the familiar ParkRight attendant on duty.

The new Regulations will require CPE to be more transparent, informative and proportional to motorists, and ParkRight will need to demonstrate that enforcement is based on compliance with local parking regulations and not the number of tickets issued.

Enforcement will be "proportional" to the parking contravention's seriousness, with the new regulations providing for differential charges. For example, higher penalties of £70 will apply for parking contraventions such as parking on a double yellow line and a lesser charge of £50 for overstaying at a pay and display parking place. The 50% discount for payment within 14 days will remain the same.

John Everall, Shropshire County Council’s Cabinet member for environment and chairman of the Joint Parking Advisory Group, said: "Civil Parking Enforcement is good news for everyone. Lower penalty charges for less serious contraventions will make the system fairer for the motorist and more transparent financial reporting will allow parking professionals to demonstrate that this is not about raising revenue.

“Effective parking management and enforcement is in place to help improve traffic flow and ensure the roads are safer for all road users. These new regulations aim to make this essential enforcement fairer.”

19 March 2008