scarborough bc march 2009

8/8/2019 Scarborough BC March 2009

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/scarborough-bc-march-2009 1/16

TECHNICAL SERVICES,ENVIRONMENT, PROJECTS

MANAGEMENT AND COASTAL ANDFLOOD DEFENCES PORTFOLIO

TO BE HELD ON18 SEPTEMBER 2009

Key Decision NO

Cabinet PortfolioHolder

Cllr A Backhouse Date of Decision/Referral to O&S

18 September 2009

Deadline for call-in5.00pm

23 September 2009

Corporate Priority:

Improving the performance of our services and ensuring theyprovide value for money Implementation

Date (if no call-in)24 September 2009

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICES – 09/540

WARDS AFFECTED: ALL

SUBJECT: PARKING SERVICES ANNUAL REPORT – 2008/09

RECOMMENDATION (S):

To receive and approve for publication the annual report on the performance of theCouncil’s parking enforcement operation.

Agenda Item 1



Council have indicated that this will include meeting any initial shortfall infunding arising from the operation of Park and Ride in Scarborough.

3.2 Information about parking and parking enforcement is available via theBorough Council’s website. The address is www.scarborough.gov.uk and inaddition a number of guides are produced and distributed giving informationabout parking throughout the Borough.

3.3 It should be noted that statistical information is taken from a ‘live’ system

which updates daily. The figures in this report are correct as at the 1

September 2009.

3.4 Enforcement of the TRO’s, including car parks, resident’s bays and waitingrestrictions is undertaken across the Borough by Borough Council staff and inthe case of on-street parking on behalf of the North Yorkshire County Council.In addition to the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN’s), these staff alsoundertake routine maintenance inspections, coning duties and the display of

signs and setting out of cones for parking suspensions.

3.5 The service has a Parking and CCTV Manager supported by an EnforcementSupervisor who in turn manages 3 Senior Civil Enforcement Officers with 15full time Civil Enforcement Officers operating across the Borough. In additionup to 8 Seasonal Civil Enforcement Officers are employed to assist duringpeak periods. The Patrols are complemented by the use of two mopedsallowing better access to the more rural areas of the Borough.

3.6 Patrols are carried out during the hours of 8 am to 8 pm. However, spotchecks are carried out outside these hours, of areas where a problem occurson a more regular basis.

3.7 The collection of cash is undertaken by the Financial Services team and the inhouse parking engineer ensures the correct operation and the re-supply of

tickets for the car park ticket machines across the Borough.

3.8 Processing of PCN’s and informal objections are dealt with by a small team of officers also under the Parking and CCTV Manager comprising of a ParkingServices Officer and 3 full time Parking Admin Assistants. There is a full timeRepresentations Officer who deals with formal objections.



4. CONSULTATION

4.1 Enforcement authorities are expected to produce an annual report about their enforcement activities within six months of the end of each financial year. Thereport should be published and as a minimum it should cover the financial,statistical and other data.

4.2 Enforcement authorities should make annual returns to the Government aboutthe number and speed of payment of PCNs.

4.3 In addition authorities must advise the appropriate Parking AdjudicationService in a timely fashion about how many PCNs they have issued.

4.4 The Secretary of State recommends that each authority should publish thereport on their website and this will be the case in Scarborough.

4.5 Elected Members are engaged in this matter at various levels from Portfolio

Holder, Scrutiny Committee and Full Council as a result of the Council’sreporting mechanisms and constitution.

5. ASSESSMENT

5.1 The information below is intended to give an overview of the parking service.This covers the period from the 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

5.2 In addition, the information also covers that which an enforcement authority isrequired to produce on an annual basis as indicated within the statutoryguidance.

Financial Statement

5.3 The income and expenditure of the Council in connection with its on-streetcharging, and with both its on-street and off-street enforcement activity, aregoverned by Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. This sectionhas recently been amended by regulations issued under the TrafficManagement Act.

5 4 The new regulations require that the on street parking account is no longer



5.6 In the past, on-street income has been used to subsidise the existing park and

ride scheme at Weaponness. From February 2009 Weaponness closed as aPark and Ride site following the opening, by North Yorkshire County Council,of two new Park and Ride sites on the A64 and A165. The new park and ridesites will be subsidised by the County Council directly from the on-streetparking income. Future surpluses from Borough Council off-street car parkingpenalty charges will be used only to cover car parks expenditure thuscomplying with the Act and the regulations.

TABLE 1FINANCIAL INFORMATION

2008/09

Income - total £1,460,077

Expenditure – total £949,117

Surplus £510,960

Surplus (excluding Off Street PCN's) £410,708

INCOME

Parking Meters £630,301Penalty Charge Notices (On Street) £472,297

Penalty Charge Notices (Off Street) £100,252

Residents Permits £81,766

Business Permits £34,739Trades Permits £28,100

Residents Scratch Cards £14,726

Smart Cards / Garage Permits £861

Hoteliers Permits £40,795

Hotel Visitor Scratch Cards £52,123Dispensation/Suspension £4,117

TOTAL £1,460,077

EXPENDITURE



Areas Identified for Improvement and Development

5.7 The Borough Council is, through its parking strategy for Scarborough,examining areas where car parks can be either better utilised, changed inoperation or developed upon.

5.8 Civil Enforcement Officers are identifying areas within the Borough wherebythe control is either not adequate or not enforceable. In many cases theseinvolve consideration by the County Council.

Operational Statistics

5.9 The key operational statistics are as follows:

TABLE 2KEY OPERATIONAL STATISTICS

On Street Off Street Total

Number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN’s)Issued

17,591 4,822 22,413

Number of higher level PCNs issued 10,483 639 11,122

Number of lower level PCNs issued 7,108 4,183 11,291

Number of PCN’s paid at discount rate 9,199 2,400 11,599

Number of PCN’s paid at non discount rate 1,066 281 1,347

Total Number of PCN’s paid 10,265 2,681 12,946

Total Number of PCN’s unpaid 7,326 2,141 9,467

Number of Charge Certificates registered atTEC

2,644 468 3,112

Number of PCN’s which had informal or formal representations made against them

5,319 1,742 7,061

Number of PCN’s cancelled as a result of informal or formal representations madeagainst them

2,624 1,167 3,791

Number of PCN’s written off for other 713 236 949



TABLE 4

PENALTY CHARGE NOTICES ISSUED BY MONTH

Off Street

2007/08 2008/09

% Changeon last

year

April 0 466

May 0 624

June 0 381July 0 518

August 756 617 -18.39

September 453 396 -12.58

October 443 470 6.09

November 263 228 -13.31

December 250 239 -4.40

January 288 243 -15.63

February 344 245 -28.78

March 479 437 -8.77

TOTAL 3276 4864

Off Street PCN's Issueed (comparable months only)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

A u g u

s t

p t e m b e

r

O c t o b e

r

ov e m b e

r

ec e m b e

r

Ja n u a r y

Fe b r

u a r y

M a r c h

N o . o f P C N ' s

2007/08 2008/09



Penalty Charge Notices Issued by Contravention (Top 10)

5.15 Table 5 (a) shows the Top 15 contravention codes where PCN’s have beenissued On Street and Table 5 (b) shows the Top 5 Contravention codes for Off Street parking places.

TABLE 5(a)TOP FIFTEEN ON STREET CONTRAVENTION CODES FOR PCN’S ISSUED

Contravention

Higher or

Lower Level

Charge

No of PCN'sIssued

% of TotalPCN'sIssued

01 - Parked In A Restricted Street Higher 3,880 22.0412 - Parked In Shared Use Bay No Permit Higher 2,657 15.0919 - Parked In Shared Use Bay Invalid Permit Lower 2,266 12.87

35 - Parked In Disc Parking Bay Without Disc Lower 1,739 9.8830 - Parked For Longer Than Permitted Lower 1,200 6.8240 - Parked In Disabled Bay Without Badge Higher 1,069 6.0725 - Parked In A Loading Bay During RestrictedHours Higher 942 5.3502 - (Un)Loading During Prohibited Hours Higher 893 5.0706 - Parked Without Clearly Displaying Valid P&D Lower 859 4.8836 - Parked In Disc Parking Bay For Longer Lower 793 4.5023 - Parked In Bay Not Designated Of Vehicle Higher 296 1.6845- Parked In A Taxi Rank Higher 260 1.4847 - Parked On A Restricted Bus Stop/Stand Higher 254 1.4421 - Parked In A Suspended Bay/Space Higher 216 1.2305 - Parked After The Expiry Of Paid For Time Lower 202 1.15

TABLE 5(b)TOP FIVE OFF STREET CONTRAVENTION CODES FOR PCN’S ISSUED

Contravention

Higher or

Lower Level

No of PCN'sIssued

% of TotalPCN'sI d



Top 10 Area’s where enforcement has been undertaken

5.17 Tables 6 (a) and 6(b) show the top 10 areas where enforcement action hasbeen taken on and off street respectively, together with information in relationto dealing with those penalty charge notices issued.

Table 6 (b)Top 10 Areas where PCN's are Issued – Off Street

(Scarborough unless stated)

PCN'sIssued

Higher Level

Lower Level

PCN'sPaid

PCN’sCancelled

PCN'sOutstanding

St Thomas Street -Upper 414 3 411 232 64 118Country Park Filey 351 0 351 176 150 25North Street 311 1 310 178 59 74Victoria Road 222 0 222 47 39 136Church StreetWhitby 215 4 211 139 51 25West Pier 213 28 185 96 62 55

Table 6 (a)Top 10 Areas where PCN's are Issued - On Street (Scarborough unless stated)

PCN'sIssued

Higher Level

Lower Level

PCN'sPaid

PCN'sCancelled

PCN'sOutstanding

Foreshore Road 522 522 0 352 98 72Sandside 403 382 21 307 60 36Albemarle Crescent 853 672 181 538 192 123North Street 374 266 108 235 80 59Queen Street 269 52 217 96 69 104St Nicholas Cliff 639 399 240 393 186 60St Nicholas Street 526 402 124 335 119 72The Crescent 402 182 220 239 108 55Vernon Road 309 297 12 207 59 43Church Street -Whitby 505 185 320 393 65 47



Cancellations

5.18 Table 7 below gives information on the top 5 reasons why cases have beencancelled:

TABLE 7 (a)CANCELLATIONS SUMMARY TABLE (On Street)

Total Higher Lower

% of Total

PCN'sIssued

% of TotalNumber of

On StreetCancellations

Valid Ticket Or PermitSupplied 1,111 399 712 6.31 27.50Disabled Driver 481 424 57 2.73 11.91General Cancellation 481 267 214 2.73 11.91Error In Ticket Issue 344 220 124 1.95 8.51

Loading / Unloading 194 171 23 1.10 4.80To Late To Send Nto 144 101 43 0.82 3.56Foreign, Stolen Or Abandoned 116 81 35 0.66 2.87Gone Away 112 63 49 0.64 2.77Breakdown - Proof Supplied 52 37 15 0.30 1.29Admin Error 47 31 16 0.27 1.16

TABLE 7 (b)CANCELLATIONS SUMMARY TABLE (Off Street)

Total Higher Lower

% of Total

PCN'sIssued

% of TotalNumber of

On StreetCancellations

Valid Ticket Or PermitSupplied 834 140 694 17.15 52.06General Cancellation - NoLetter 160 63 97 3.29 9.99



5.19 The cancellation reasons listed above cover the majority of all cancellations.The remainder of cancellations are made up of reasons such as disabled

driver, machine faults, vehicle breakdown and other medical reasons.

Representations and Appeals

5.20 The Borough Council deals with all appeals in the following way:-

The vehicle owner may dispute the issuing of a PCN at three stages:

Owners may make so-called ‘informal challenges’ or ‘informal representations’(or ‘pre Notice to Owner letters’) against the PCN before the Borough Councilhas served a ‘Notice to Owner’.

Once a ‘Notice to Owner’ has been served, an owner may make a formalrepresentation against the Notice to Owner to the Borough Council; and

If a formal representation is rejected the owner may appeal against the ‘Noticeof Rejection’ to an independent adjudicator.

5.21 The Council has appointed staff to deal with appeals. The Council’sRepresentations Officer deals with all cases whereby a formal representationhas been made to the Parking Adjudicator.

5.22 Table 8 below gives unattributed details of Formal Appeals received by the

Council and the outcome or Adjudicators decision.

TABLE 8

CASES APPEALED TO NPAS AppealAllowed

(1)

AppealRefused (2)

NotContested

(3)

Pending(4)

Scarborough(NYCC area)

28 23 11 0

Scarborough Off Street Car Parks

2 0 2 0

Whitby 2 3 1 0

P



Summary of Appeals Allowed by the Adjudicator (1)

5.23 Below are some examples of appeals that have been allowed by theadjudicator and the reasons why

Case 1

The appellant appealed on the grounds that a break in yellow lines renderedthe Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) unenforceable. Although the adjudicator found that “the lines were in excellent order apart from a very small repair,which made the restriction perfectly clear to a reasonable motorist”, theappeal was allowed as the PCN was illegible.

Case 2

The appellant had stated that his vehicle had broken down. The adjudicator found that the motorist has provided a written statement that his vehicle was

immobilised due to key fob failure and that in certain breakdown situationsmotorists do not require help from mechanics and therefore cannot providecorroborative evidence. The appeal was allowed on the basis that abreakdown is a permitted exemption.

Case 3

The appellant had parked using a Hotel accommodation scratch card which

she had filled in incorrectly. The appellant had appealed on the grounds thatshe had been given the incorrect instructions for completing the card by theHotel. Although the Council contended that the instructions for use wereclear on the reverse of the permit, the adjudicator allowed the appeal on thegrounds that it was reasonable for the driver to expect the informationprovided by the hotel to be correct.

5.24 The Parking Service will learn from these matters and adjust its operationsaccordingly.

Summary of Appeals Refused by the Adjudicator (2)

5.25 Below are some examples of selected case information where the adjudicator

P 14



made after the Council’s letter of rejection which pointed out that a vehiclewas only permitted to park on yellow lines for this purpose.

The conclusion was that the appellant had not discharged the burden uponher to establish that her vehicle was parked for the purpose of loading/unloading and that the contravention occurred.

Case 2

The appellant requested liability for the Penalty Charge Notice to betransferred to the Garage where his vehicle was in for service at the time of the contravention.

The adjudicator found that the relevant legislation makes the owner of thevehicle not the driver responsible for payment of the penalty charge. Liabilitycan only be transferred in circumstances where the vehicle has been takenwithout consent or transferred permanently. Therefore the appellant wasresponsible for the charge. The Council agreed to still accept the discounted

payment, as the garage had not informed him of the PCN.

Case 3

The appellant claimed they were not aware the area where they parked was apay and display parking bay. The adjudicator found that the pay and displaybays are properly and adequately signed and that the appellant ought to haveseen them and realised that she was in a pay and display bay.

Case 4

The appellant appealed as he believed that the signing in the Car Park did notmake it clear that it was to be used by staff permit holders Monday to Friday.The adjudicator found that the restriction would reasonably have beenbrought to the attention of any driver, as the sign was large, could be seen

from all areas of the car park and clearly stated in red lettering that on weekdays the car park is to be used by permit holders only.

6. IMPLICATIONS

(a) Policy

Page 15



(c) Financial

6.3 There are no adverse financial implications arising from this report

(d) Equalities and Diversity

6.4 I have considered whether any implications arise from this report relating toEquality and Diversity and am satisfied that there is no identified adverseimplication that will arise from this decision

(f) Other

6.5 I have considered whether the following implications arise from this report andam satisfied that there is no identified adverse implication that will arise fromthis decision:

Staffing

PlanningCrime and Disorder Health and SafetyEnvironmental

7. ACTION PLAN

7.1 The Service will reflect upon the statistics of this report and make adjustmentsto its operations as necessary.

7.2 A further report will be presented within 6 months of the end of the nextfinancial year.

John RibyHead of Technical Services



Risk Matrix

Issue/Risk Consequencesif allowed to

happen

Likelihood Impact Mitigation MitigatedLikelihood

MitigatedImpact

Failure to comply

with require-ments of Part 6of the TrafficManagement Act2004

Unable to comply

with require-ments of StatutoryInstrument

Likely Major Accept Report Very Low Low

P a g e

1 6

scarborough bc march 2009

Documents