Copy of a letter to the Romford Recorder

To the Editor

With reference to the letter from the current Cabinet Member for StreetCare and Parking, Cllr Barry Tebbutt (letters 19th Oct 2007) I can confirm that he is incorrect in his assumption that the story printed by the Recorder concerning the estimated £1.7 million income is wrong and was based on figures for all tickets issued, not just the car.

I will repeat the figures here for his benefit; on the latest figures given by himself, the Council have issued an average of 2,500 tickets a month using the CCTV car, which gives an estimate of 30,000 tickets a year. At a cost of £100 at the full price and £50 at the discount rate, according to the councils own figures half are paid at discount and half at the full price, with a total of 90% of all tickets issued being paid, the other 10% would be for bad debtors or no vehicle keeper details or untraceable.

So that means an estimate for a full 12 months would be 13,500 tickets paid at £100 (which makes £1,350.000) and 13,500 tickets paid at £50 (which makes £675,000). That makes a total of some £2 million pounds. I accept that this is only an estimate based on current figures; however, the cars have issued three times the amount of tickets they thought it would issue in a whole year, in just three months.

The comments about “Tax on Parking” are ones expressed to me on an almost weekly basis from shopkeepers and residents who feel they are being targeted and issued tickets without any due care to common sense or within the law. Tickets have been issued for parking on the pavement, where the white lines have all been scrubbed away, but it is still legal to park there. More money needs to be spent on re-painting the white lines.

I have been inundated with letters, phone calls and e-mails about people’s experiences with the car; I have seen photos of a car stopped in the road, door open and someone’s leg half out of the door, the fact that they had a blue badge in the front window seems hear nor there to the operator. Many of our elderly and most vulnerable residents are blue badge holders and they are getting ticket after ticket as the car is not looking in the front window to see if it has a blue badge.

I have meet with three different shop keepers in Collier Row in the last week alone, who have expressed deep concern about the parking issues and have seen a loss in custom due to the CCTV car issuing tickets. With car parking fees to be introduced into our car parks in the New Year, those that drive a car in this borough have been well and truly done !

For the record, I have to say that nobody is suggesting that it is acceptable to park illegally, people that park on zig zags outside schools, on zebra crossings or obstructing pavements will always get a ticket as this sort of parking is quite obviously illegal.

The issue that residents have is the draconian manner in which this latest policy from the Conservative Administration running Havering Council is having on their lives and that in many peoples opinion, are starting to suck the blood from our smaller town Centres, the Town that I represent, Collier Row, being a prime example.

Cllr Andrew Mann
Residents Association
Town Hall