Poole Council DIDN'T make nearly £5m from parking fines (From Bournemouth Echo)

Poole Council DIDN'T make nearly £5m from parking fines

7:50am Thursday 26th November 2009

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AT first it looked too good to be true – for Poole Borough Council, that is. According to figures they supplied under the Freedom of Information Act, they raked in a staggering £4,532,520 in parking penalties in 2007/2008.

The amounts totted up to more than was collected in either Manchester or Liverpool and more than the total of fines collected in the whole of Northern Ireland.

But irate motorists can calm down. Because the borough has admitted the figures supplied to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, for its survey of parking penalty income, were wrong.

Spokesman Hayley Pope said: “It seems that the figures are inaccurate. From 2007 to 2008 the income actually received from penalty charge notices was £598,641 and for 2008 to 2009 it was £529,600.”

The Taxpayers’ Alliance survey looked at all the UK authorities licensed to collect parking fines. They claim that overall in the UK, the parking enforcement industry made £328 million last year.

Any income surplus to the costs of running warden schemes can be used for transport improvement but the top, four-star-rated councils can use the proceeds for anything they wish.

Jennifer Dunn, policy analyst with the Drivers’ Alliance and the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “For many councils parking fines have become a lucrative source of income. But while revenues are being made at the cost of the motorist, taxpayers haven’t seen their council tax fall, or their local services improve. Motorists are being treated like cash cows, but the only people that appear to be benefiting are wardens and their bosses.”

The correct Poole figures compare favourably with Bournemouth’s where the borough collected £880,981 for 2007 to 2008, and £739,651 for 2008 to 2009. Dorset, which collects on behalf of several authorities, came in with a relatively modest £446,006 and £397,721 for West Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck and East Dorset.

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