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Traffic warden numbers rise almost 6%

ReenaSewraz
by Lovemoney Staff ReenaSewraz on 03 September 2012  |  Comments 16 comments

Councils are clamping down on illegal parking by putting more traffic wardens on our streets.

Traffic warden numbers rise almost 6%

Since 2008, there has been a rise of nearly 6% in traffic wardens employed by councils, according to figures obtained by LV.

What's more, in the last 12 months it was found that 17% of local authorities have reduced the amount of free parking, replacing it with revenue-generating paid parking zones.

Big jump

Data sourced from a freedom of information request from more than 220 councilsshowed a jump in the number of parking inspectors employed by councils from 3,630 in 2008 to 3,841 in 2012- a 5.8% rise overall.

The figures suggest that one in ten councils have increased the number of parking attendants on duty by 20% or more.

In an average council area there are now 16 parking civil enforcement officers employed to clamp down on parking violations. In London boroughs this figure rises to 51.

Of the councils that provided information, Westminster had the highest number of traffic wardens on patrol (242), followed by Islington (135), Edinburgh (121) and Lambeth (99).

Big fines

As a result motorists trying their luck have been hit with big fines.

Over the last 12 months 10% of drivers have been caught out, with penalties for illegally parked vehicles totalling £340 million, or £96 per driver.

If you think you have been fined unfairly read this article: How to beat parking fines. 

In an LV survey of 1,583 drivers, 57% believed parking had become harder in their nearest town since 2008 and 18% of drivers admitted to parking illegally over the last year.

Save on parking and fines

As the number of cars on the roads grows and councils look to make more money, motorists will find it harder to park.

But you do have alternatives. You could try using Park and Ride schemes or find spots further away from busy areas to save on the cost of parking and reducing your risk of getting a fine.

More stories on parking:

Hospital car park charges up by as much as 200%!

Huge increases in railway station car park charges

London parking space costs more than a house in the North

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Comments (16)

  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    It gets worse and it's mostly private companies that act for the councils. They don't often relent if you appeal. My local Morrison's has traffic wardens lurking, all the other supermarkets have free car parks and so people easily get caught out. Morrison's refund the charge anyway, but anyone who forgets get stung for £25.00. Not that I shop there any more. Many other town centres are suffering, not because of parking charges, but because of the way private companies administer them. My local hospital charges £1 for every 30 minutes, but at least I can get a parking space. It is a bit much if the doctors are delayed though. It has stopped people parking and going for lunch in the hospital, but administration of parking could be improved. Maybe tokens for people delayed by long waits at outpatients?

    Report on 03 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • deRANGEdROVER
    Love rating 12
    deRANGEdROVER said

    Not only there are fewer free parking spaces for able bodied people, some Councils (Hello West Norfolk) now charge Blue Badge holders in their car parks, using a disable space or not ..... Guess what, instead of using the car parks which at one time were free for BBH, they park on single double or yellow lines for up to 2 hours for free ..... thus slowing down traffic something dreadful.

    Now where's the sense in that?

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • finnol49
    Love rating 22
    finnol49 said

    Milton Keynes central used to have a number of free car parking spaces in the main car parks. These have all gone, & the parking rate for these spaces is now £1 per hour. If I go there these days, I park 10 minutes walk away for free - but I don't go there very often these days, as the shops seem to have got more expensive, & some of the shops I used to visit have closed down.

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • killick_becki
    Love rating 58
    killick_becki said

    @deRANGEdROVER

    I don't see why just because you are a blue badge holder, you should be able to park for free when others have to pay. The whole point of a blue badge is that it entitles you to park near to your destination, not necessarily for free.

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  4 loves
  • mdjohnst
    Love rating 4
    mdjohnst said

    I drove past my local Co-op today which has a large car park. It used to be free, but now charges £1, which is refundable if you spend more than £5 or £10 (I forget which).

    There were 2 cars in the car park around 1pm. As opposed to Sainsbury's which has free parking which is always full.

    It seems to be that by charging you are driving people away. Same with councils. Why would I pay to park in a town centre car park when I can go to an out of town complex and park for free.

    The sensible approach would be first hour free then pay.

    Councils seem to be to stupid to realise that by driving people away they are adding another nail in the coffin of the high street. Less shops = less rates.

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • rbgos
    Love rating 81
    rbgos said

    Many of the rants above seem to concern supermarkets etc. That is totally missing the point of the article - the article concerns councils' traffic wardens, who generally are patrolling on-street parking. Supermarkets are privately owned, and it is up to the owner if/what they charge, that's nothing to do with the council.

    Why some may moan about traffic wardens (no-one likes paying fines), they are a LOT better than the alternative. Without enforcement, people would park anywhere; roads would be blocked and major traffic jams ensue; people would be unable to park near their homes because the spaces would be blocked by others using them because they are handy for work/shopping.

    Before you complain about anything, give some thought to what the alternative would really be like...

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • g1ng3rcat
    Love rating 9
    g1ng3rcat said

    As ever, something which was previously free or very cheap, no longer is - as if the cost of living wasn't rising sharply enough already - and don't forget some of us have not only had a 'minimal wage increase', we have had none at all for the last 4 years!

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Aitken B
    Love rating 109
    Aitken B said

    There is truth in what rbgos says. I'm old enough to remember the introduction of parking metres. Their purpose was to ration out the limited parking so we all got a shot and the charge was more or lessto cover the cost of the system.

    However councils grew to realise that parking fees were a lucrative source of revenue and so started the slippery slope of fewer places and higher charges till we have reached the sorry state in which we car drivers are charged a kings ransom to park on roads that we have more than paid through the nose for in the first place.

    It gets worse. The speeding fine scam has rerached a level where about £100m is extroted from generally perfectly safe drivers for minor infringements and sometimes no infringment of speed restrictions. But it's in aid of road safety we are told. Why then did the rate of decline in fataalities drop from a pre speed cameras creditable 7.1% PA to a disastrous 2.8% PA post introduction of speed cameras? None of the Speed Camera proponents have been able to answer that simple question. Clearly, that they are still in use is all about revenue. Pity they have been the cause of over 10000 (ten thousand) additional deaths on our roads.

    There's more! Recently we have heard about councils wishing to have the power (note power not right) for traffic wardens to issue fixed penalty fines for a wide range of traffic rules infringements. Is this a serious drive to improve road safety? You might care to believe it is but I'm sure you will all be able to predict my view.

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Davek
    Love rating 3
    Davek said

    Or you could do what I do and that is only shop at out of town centres where parking is free or do your shopping online. When the city and town centres are all dead and most of them have gone that way it, will be the morons at our councils who, through their own greed, will be responsible. Sadly, they are too stupid to realise that a busy town centre generating successful businesses, jobs, turnover and money gives them the opportunity to increase business rates but they seem happier attacking the motorist and killing businesses and ultimately their own revenue.

    You could call it suicide by stupidity!

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Megatyte
    Love rating 21
    Megatyte said

    @rbgos

    This has nothing to do with inappropriate parking. It's just another easy way to gouge money from the motorist.

    If a vehicle has parked having paid a fee or a vehicle has parked without paying a fee a vehicle has still been parked. The impact regarding the location is unchanged.

    You also mention that people would be unable to park near their homes. A lot of blocked/restricted road problems arise from people who believe that they are the only ones entitled to park outside their homes. If someone is already parked there then they will park as close as possible, disregarding the consequences. They just can't be bothered to walk the few yards extra by parking in a sensible location.

    Owning a property does not give you ownership of the adjacent highway.

    A H

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • bengilda
    Love rating 77
    bengilda said

    Don't know where they hide the Civil Enforcement Officers in Fareham. I very rarely see one and when I do he (and she) in their scruffy bags of uniforms are usually shopping.

    When I pushing my wife in her wheelchair along the pavement I so often come across vehicles wholly or largely parked on the footpath so that I have to negotiate a kerb, ontp the road, pass the obstructing vehicle, and struggle back onto the footway. Where are the CEOs? Although I also notice that Hampshire Constabulary's finest not only ignore such obstructions but frequently do the same when on non emergency calls.

    We Council Tax payers spent a lot of money on a bye law and signs to prevent vehicles driving on and parking on the excellent grass borders between the kerb and the hard top footpaths. After the first burst of enforcement we now see the grass rutted and spoiled and cars and vans parked on it - but no CEOs appear to do their jobs.

    Report on 09 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • johnmxn3
    Love rating 17
    johnmxn3 said

    Norwich City Council is one of those that has stopped disabled parkers free use of the car parks.

    Fair enough, some may say, if the disabled person is able to get to their destination from one car park by crutches or wheelschair. PLEASE, no comments about perfectly fit people abusing the system, this is not what this is about.

    My wife has terminal cancer and needs her mobilitiy scooter to be put in the car for getting to her destination from the car park. One destination, we do not object to paying. But often she has to go to four or five doctors surgeries, hospital, shops, medical supplies shops etc that a fit person could walk to from one car park. Shirley however cannot do this. It means parking in 5 different parks at the £4 or £5 fee to do what a normal person can do with no problem in one trip.

    £25 to park for urgent meetings each week seems a bit wrong to me. Same with Broadland District Council in Norfolk which has banner headline on its letters "Caring for the community". We are both 77 yrs old and I have serious heart condition, but have to manhandle her wheelchair or mobility scooter from the car, and reload each time. Fortunately there are often lovely people around who will help me. These chairs and scooters are not lightweight!

    Pah!

    Report on 10 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • electricblue
    Love rating 643
    electricblue said

    Supermarkets only charge because people abuse their free parking. It costs them to employ parking wardens. Mike smugly repeating that he no longer shops at Morrisons only proves that he wants to make a childish point. This forum is also about saving money and the reduced bargains I get from my Morrisons make shopping there well worthwhile. My local Tesco staff are the spawn of the devil, but I'll still shop there for bargains when it suits me.

    Local councils seem to be run by officials who failed an intelligence test to get their posts and we are all paying the cost of their stupidity in losing the hearts of our town centres in a mire of daft traffic schemes and extortionate parking costs. Not content with bleeding business owners dry by increasing rates and rents, councils drive away their customers.

    Report on 10 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • oldhenry
    Love rating 265
    oldhenry said

    Well , with a reduction in grant from teh central governmnet local council will expect even more from teh motorist. Do not forget that motoristsa re as addicted to cars as junkies are to herion. They cannot stop using them and are therefore ripe for being milked dry.

    So what do we do? Simple stop going inot towns/cities by car and do not use car parks. Councils will whine like mad and blame everyone, government will set up a task force to see why - without any irony at all.

    Blue badge holders are lucky ( in a way) , just park on yellow lines, s*d the car parks.

    Motorists do have power, by withdrawing their trade, but they need to do this together . They need a union to organise this action.

    Report on 10 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Nick C
    Love rating 2
    Nick C said

    I live in West Kent in Tunbridge Wells to be exact. It used to be Traffic Warden Borough Council so they now call them 'Enforcement Officers'!! My main piece of advice to people who have the misfortune to have to park in TW - unless they are Councillors who get free parking spaces - is "Do not park in the multistory car parks on a wet day as that is where the 'Enforcement Officers' go in there to stay dry. You will get a ticket even if you have paid and show a valid ticket - I know !! Avoid TW if possible - try Crowborough in East Sussex where one TWBC Councillor lives or Blue Water - parking is free and safe from predators!!

    Report on 15 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    @electricblue, I didn't say I don't shop at Morrison's any more, but I try to avoid it. I actually shopped there yesterday. They do a large selection of cooked food. Unfortunately, they didn't have any cooked food I wanted. I did however manage to explain to two international students how to shop in there. They seem to prefer Asda though! I also took them to the local lake to see ducks and geese. They asked, "Do you eat them?"

    My comment was about parking and not about getting bargains; so in keeping with the article.

    Report on 17 September 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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