Drivers could find the number of parking tickets they receive climbing as a result of new laws that allow local authorities to penalise drivers remotely.
The new rules, which come into force on March 31 as part of the Road Traffic Management Act, are intended to make it easier for parking wardens to issue tickets, while also graduating the fines depending on the severity of the offence.
Drivers will now be fined as a result of CCTV evidence, and will not even have to have a ticket placed on their car.
Transport minister Rosie Winterton said this is being introduced as a safety measure as some drivers speed off before the warden has a chance to issue the ticket, consequently endangering other road users and pedestrians. Can’t blame them!
However, the issue of remote tickets could cause problems, not least because a driver may not know he has committed an offence until much later when it is too late to gather evidence for an appeal.
Absolutely. Although they propose to raise the time limit to pay these tickets from 14 days to 21 motorists are still so angry at getting a ticket they invariably forget to pay or they do pay and try to appeal, which is utterly pointless, and I speak from experience.
This is so going to help establish a better relationship between drivers and traffic wardens isn’t – not!
When will they ever learn?
Femalefirst