Remove Red Tape

Parking

These regulations govern the terms on which the rules for the control of parking on our streets are operated by local authorities. They also set out how the rules are enforced, including the role of traffic wardens, and the process for how to appealing against penalties.

You can find all the regulations that relate to parking below to the left.

Tell us what you think should happen to these regulations and why, being specific where possible:

• Should we scrap them altogether?
• Could their purpose be achieved in a non-regulatory way (eg through a voluntary code?) How?
• Could they be reformed, simplified or merged? How?
• Can we reduce their bureaucracy through better implementation? How?
• Can we make their enforcement less burdensome? How?
• Should they be left as they are?

113 comments on “Parking”

1. David Nisbet on June 16, 2011 at 11:02 pm said:

   [text deleted] apparently a local authority has the power to tell traffic wardens to forget tax discs as they mean nothing, eg, disabled person stops at shop to pick up items, single yellow line, a 5 min task no blue bad was displayed, about 6 min returned to car with goods, warden writing ticket, told car is a disabled persons car, no badge on show, he took tax disc number and must have seen disabled tax, pointed that out, his reply Tax discs do not mean a thing, I can not understand that statement, spoke to council office and it was repeated by them, when police look at car parked, they look at disc, see disabled and do allow a lot more time to compensate, so how do a local council state a tax disc means nothing to parking,
2. Simon Warburton on June 16, 2011 at 8:33 pm said:

   Submitted on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester

   Civil enforcement of parking contraventions
   We recommend that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority should be added as an Enforcement Authority to enable the future development of a more efficient Greater Manchester enforcement regime which would be more consistent and hence more transparent to the public.
3. Mike on June 16, 2011 at 4:30 pm said:

   There are three things I would change about parking enforcement.

   1. Controlled Parking Zones should be banned, How can it be fair for a motorist to have one chance to spot a sign, which can be a very significant distance from where he or she subsequently decides to park and the relevant signage for which is often placed at busy road junctions? Once in a CPZ there is no requirement currently on the relevant Authority even to place yellow lines. Surely there should be a regulation requiring there to be both yellow lines AND signage stating the restrictions which apply within at most 50 metres. The motorist would then have no excuse if they break the parking restriction whereas currently many park illegally without even realising.

   2. There is usually a “discount” for paying a Penalty Charge Notice within, say, 14 days. This reduction is lost if an appeal is lodged, The regulations should be changed so that the discount is still available if an appeal is lodged. The discount should apply until 14 days after the appeal is heard.

   3. I don’t know how this can be done in practice but there has to be more control over how parking restrictions are introduced. Local Authorities seem to paint yellow lines as if they have bought too much paint and need to use it all up by the end of the year. There are many examples locally where there quite needless restrictions including in lay-bys which presumably the taxpayer has paid to build and now no-one can park in them!
4. Stephen Boor on June 16, 2011 at 2:14 pm said:

   Blue Badges – remove the anomaly in the regulations that allows blue badge holders to be exempt from nearly all parking regulation. Particular need is to prevent use of blue badges in loading bays and permit only areas.

   Civil Parking Enforcement – justify why PCN charges in London are higher than the rest of the country. Alteration to these charges would enalbe most LAs to address their deficits on parking enforcement management
5. Unite the Union on June 16, 2011 at 12:38 pm said:

   All of the Road Transportation legislation listed has taken years of campaigning at times by Trade Unions and other stakeholders and has successfully made it through both the House of Parliament and the House of Lords before taking their place on the statute book.

   The ‘Red Tape Challenge for Road Transportation’ should not be used as a sounding board for the Government of the day to remove and change legislation as they feel based on ad hoc website comments. This is undemocratic and completely ignores the democratic process that we already have for law creation, change or removal.

   Therefore Unite the Union does not consider the Governments ‘Red Tape Challenge for Road Transportation’ as being proper consultation and rightfully expect the Government to conduct full comprehensive consultation, with Trade Unions and other stakeholders on any areas of proposed change.

   In addition Unite would like to take this opportunity to state how extremely concerned Unite are with the Government’s drastic cuts programme, which is jeopardising the recovery and may even lead to a ‘double dip’ recession.

   Continued investment in transport infrastructure is crucial to delivering and maintaining economic growth. It will not only help build the UK out of recession by providing jobs and attracting investment, but provides an essential element for long-term, sustainable growth.

   Every transport mode makes a substantial direct and indirect contribution to the UK economy and Unite will protect its members and their terms and conditions vigorously across all these modes of transport.

   Unite the Union
6. Chris Leithead on June 15, 2011 at 12:06 pm said:

   When I was a senior officer in the Headquarters Traffic Branch of the Metropolitan Police I was directly responsible for the introduction of decriminalised parking enforcement. I have worked in this field since that time and I know of no one who can match my experience.

   The list of regulations omits the Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 [SI 1996 No. 2489] which came into force on 1st December 1996.

   The demand for kerb space along certain lengths of road exceeds supply. It is necessary for local authorities to regulate this supply in order to facilitate the demand. Additionally, there are lengths of road where parked vehicles are likely to cause danger and so parking should be prohibited. There is little point in making regulations unless they are to be obeyed. Experience has shown that obedience to his regulations will not be voluntary. It follows that efforts to obtain compliance with these regulations requires enforcement.

   It must be remembered that parking regulations have not been decriminalised it is only the enforcement of those regulations that have been decriminalised. Whereas previously an offending motorist was fined through the local magistrates’ court and unpaid fines passed to bailiffs for collection now the local authority issues a penalty charge which, if unpaid, is passed to bailiffs for collection.

   Whether the penalty is a fine through the criminal courts or a charge through the civil courts is immaterial. It was established in the Magna Carta (clause 39) that no man can be penalised other than by the law of the land and this has been confirmed in the European Convention on Human Rights now part of UK law.

   If motorists are to be penalised it must be strictly according to Regulations. At the present time this is not happening because the Secretary of State for Transport has abrogated his responsibility in this regard. Before it is possible to determine what Regulations can be reformed, simplified or merged it is necessary to ensure there is compliance with the current Regulations.

   If the Cabinet Office is going to make any meaningful contribution in this regard it will be to ensure that all local authorities are fully compliant with all aspects of the law. This is not the current situation.
7. craig mordue on June 14, 2011 at 4:03 pm said:

   There are 2 key areas where I believe legislation could be streamlined / improved;

   Firstly the legislation is somewhat “tired” in terms of statutory process which does little to inform the public and costs local authorities significant amounts of money (press notices ) which could be better used to deliver services etc. Press notices are costly and few residents appear to read small print notices. Consequently, could authorities not advertise TROs via a website of DfT portal to help reduce red tape etc.

   Secondly, the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 account for significant detail in terms of signs / lines, spacings etc and this could be simplified to reduce confusion and also to reduce workload for the DfT.
8. Alex Henney on June 14, 2011 at 11:54 am said:

   On behalf of London Motorists Action Group

   We believe it long overdue that there should be a clear statutory provision prohibiting the operation of parking and traffic enforcement to generate revenue from the road which we as rate and tax payers pay for.

   We believe adjudicators should be empowered to enforce the return of already-paid penalty monies established by an appeal being adjudicated to have been taken illegally from motorists. The provision should require the council to repay all motorists illegally charged.

   We recommend the DfT together with the Ministry of Justice publish clear statutory guidance to parking authorities:-
   • Prohibiting outsourcing any of the procedures relating to parking enforcement to the affiliates of bailiff companies
   • Advising parking authorities in the strongest of terms to use bailiffs sparingly
   • Publishing a model contract for bailiffs which requires them to abide by the voluntary National Standards for Enforcement Agents, which is widely ignored

   We would welcome the opportunity of discussing these issues with you.
9. paul pearson on June 13, 2011 at 12:23 pm said:

   I run website [deleted text] I have campaigned against unfair, illegal and revenue orientated enforcement of parking and moving traffic contraventions for 14 years. I go to council meetings, attend monthly meetings at the House of Lords and and often on the tv and in the press. Happy to speak to anyone in government and show some examples of what is happening and making some suggestions to hold local authorities to account. However I am not optimistic [deleted text] There is little chance of stopping this relentless attack on the motorist with this government. [deleted text]