Residents Association spokesman for StreetCare and Parking, Cllr Andrew Mann has hit out over the amount of income the Councils new CCTV Smart Cars are making from issuing parking tickets by stealth across the Borough.
This Follows Havering’s parking Manager supplying Cllr Mann with the breakdown of the amount of tickets issued since the car was introduced.
Cllr Mann said “The truth is finally out, the figures say it all, in the original report concerning the car, it was assumed they would only issue 2200 tickets a year, at an income of £80k. However, this is not the case, as they have been issuing that amount each month, with a much larger payment rate due to the photo evidence and are on target to issue over 26,000 tickets”
If the same payment rates are kept up, the income could be well in excess of £1.7 million in a full year. The original report also suggested that the car would only be used around protecting school children at schools and on yellow zig zags and crossings.
Cllr Mann met with shop owners and business people in Collier Row after they spoke out earlier this month about the targeting of their shops, one of those was B & D Tyres in Collier Row who have been trading for over 35 years. Dave Fuller from B & D said at the time “This is just daylight robbery, we get this CCTV car here at least 2 or 3 times a day hitting on customers and delivery vehicles and its just not on” Now, due to the continued use of this car, one of his major suppliers “Motex” of Romford is refusing to make deliveries due to the amount of tickets his delivery vans have been issued with.
Over 12 months ago, Cllr Mann warned about the possible future use of the covert cars and felt at the time they were introduced, caution should be taken and also warned that they should not be used as an income generator for the Council.
In a Town Hall press release dated 20/03/07, Conservative Cabinet Member Cllr Barry Tebbutt said “I have no problem with this car being used to target indiscriminate parking around schools and pedestrian crossings which poses a real danger to our children”. However, it would seem that this is not the case as there is no school or crossing near to these shops.
Cllr Mann said “It has now become quite clear that this car was only introduced to make money, it is just a cash cow, sucking the life out of our Town Centres, coupled with the new charges being introduced for smaller shopping centres such as Collier Row, Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Elm Park and Rainham this Conservative Administration are going to kill of the smaller towns in Havering in favour of Romford Town Centre”
He continues, “Whilst I chaired the Collier Row Regeneration Committee, we spent a lot of time and money in trying to improve the shopping experience in our Town Centre, the provision of parking restrictions is always going to be difficult, but it appears that this particular parade of shops is being picked on”, he went on "Along with car park charges in our town centres, this is yet more proof this Administration has no sympathy for small businesses”. "While they are wasting time targeting this parade, other parts of the Borough - particularly outside schools - are being neglected"
This Follows Havering’s parking Manager supplying Cllr Mann with the breakdown of the amount of tickets issued since the car was introduced.
Cllr Mann said “The truth is finally out, the figures say it all, in the original report concerning the car, it was assumed they would only issue 2200 tickets a year, at an income of £80k. However, this is not the case, as they have been issuing that amount each month, with a much larger payment rate due to the photo evidence and are on target to issue over 26,000 tickets”
If the same payment rates are kept up, the income could be well in excess of £1.7 million in a full year. The original report also suggested that the car would only be used around protecting school children at schools and on yellow zig zags and crossings.
Cllr Mann met with shop owners and business people in Collier Row after they spoke out earlier this month about the targeting of their shops, one of those was B & D Tyres in Collier Row who have been trading for over 35 years. Dave Fuller from B & D said at the time “This is just daylight robbery, we get this CCTV car here at least 2 or 3 times a day hitting on customers and delivery vehicles and its just not on” Now, due to the continued use of this car, one of his major suppliers “Motex” of Romford is refusing to make deliveries due to the amount of tickets his delivery vans have been issued with.
Over 12 months ago, Cllr Mann warned about the possible future use of the covert cars and felt at the time they were introduced, caution should be taken and also warned that they should not be used as an income generator for the Council.
In a Town Hall press release dated 20/03/07, Conservative Cabinet Member Cllr Barry Tebbutt said “I have no problem with this car being used to target indiscriminate parking around schools and pedestrian crossings which poses a real danger to our children”. However, it would seem that this is not the case as there is no school or crossing near to these shops.
Cllr Mann said “It has now become quite clear that this car was only introduced to make money, it is just a cash cow, sucking the life out of our Town Centres, coupled with the new charges being introduced for smaller shopping centres such as Collier Row, Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Elm Park and Rainham this Conservative Administration are going to kill of the smaller towns in Havering in favour of Romford Town Centre”
He continues, “Whilst I chaired the Collier Row Regeneration Committee, we spent a lot of time and money in trying to improve the shopping experience in our Town Centre, the provision of parking restrictions is always going to be difficult, but it appears that this particular parade of shops is being picked on”, he went on "Along with car park charges in our town centres, this is yet more proof this Administration has no sympathy for small businesses”. "While they are wasting time targeting this parade, other parts of the Borough - particularly outside schools - are being neglected"
2 comments:
The parking in this borough is confusing. I park regularly in the marshall park area and there are notices saying park in marked bays only. After all the pavement works in the area no one thought to mark the bays up again and you turn up to park with half the cars up the kerb in the old bay position and half the cars just in the road. I have no problem with the smart car but the council should make sure evrything is in order first.
The car appears to be stopped next to a yellow line and blocking a cycle track. Did it get a ticket? If not why not?
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