Parking

Penalty Charge Notices in Lancashire
Number of Penalty Charges issued which cost the tax payer money in recovering the charges
Penalty Charge Notices issued on Marine Road, Morecambe
Parking statistics for Preston
Unpaid parking tickets to foreign vehicles

Penalty Charge Notices in Lancashire

Reference	787.303
Date Responded	20/05/2010
Response Type	Partial disclosure, some information refused under section 12(1)
Request	I would like information about appeals to Penalty Charge Notices in Lancashire. Please provide both the number and percentage of appeals that are successful, and on what grounds they are made and upheld.
Response	*Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000* Further to your email dated 21^st April 2010, in which you request the disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are now in a position to respond. Please provide both the number and percentage of appeals that are successful, and on what grounds they are made and upheld. Between September 2009 – April 2010: Total issued: 34,453 PCNs Total cancelled: 2,962 PCNs The formal appeals info can be downloaded from: http://www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk/site/scripts/downloads.php?categoryID=4126 for each year and is split by district and has a percentage attached. The grounds we cannot give – every case is adjudicated on their individual circumstances and as such we would have to go through every PCN, therefore to collate this information would incur a commitment of resources in excess of the limit of £450 set by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 3244 of 2004), which equates to 18 hours of work. Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act provides that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request where to do so would exceed such a limit.
Attachments	None

Number of Penalty Charges issued which cost the tax payer money in recovering the charges

Reference	787.359
Date Responded	20/05/2010
Response Type	Full Disclosure
Request	Please would you provide me under the Freedom of Information Act (2000); Lancashire County Council’s annual costs (at least two years) of pursuing the recovery of unpaid penalty charges (parking) through the Traffic Enforcement Centre Northampton County Court Bulk Centre. As well as, the incurred costs of appointing bailiffs to seize or remove goods. Indeed, I am specifically requesting information (total cost) as to the number of penalty charges that have been issued, but have resulted in costs to the Council (rate payers) as opposed to the recovery of any charge?
Response	Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Further to your email dated 14 May 2010, we are now in a position to respond to your enquiry regarding incurred costs of appointing bailiffs to recover unpaid penalty charge notices (PCNs). We can confirm that Lancashire County Council (LCC) do not pay agencies for pursuing the recovery of unpaid PCNs. There is a set rate of charges that the bailiffs themselves add to the original charge that they are recovering on the Councils behalf. LCC pay £5 to Northampton County Court for every PCN we want to recover. If the bailiff is successful in recovering the charge, then the £5 is returned to LCC along with the outstanding PCN amount. The bailiff company keeps anything else they have charged for, regarding the recovery process. If we fail to recover the debt it has to be written off, meaning the only cost to incurred to the Council is the £5 registration fee.
Attachments	None

Penalty Charge Notices issued on Marine Road, Morecambe

Reference	787.372
Date Responded	09/06/2010
Response Type	Full Disclosure
Request	Under the Freedom of Information Act I request the following information. The total number of vehicles issued with Penalty Charge Notices between 10th May 2004 and 10th May 2010 that were parked in the Loading Bay adjacent to 312 to 340 Marine Road, Morecambe, LA4 5AA, and specifically, of those vehicles how many were Blue Badge Holders.
Response	*Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000* Further to your email dated 19^th May 2010, in which you request the disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are now in a position to respond. The total number of vehicles issued with Penalty Charge Notices between 10th May 2004 and 10th May 2010 that were parked in the Loading Bay adjacent to 312 to 340 Marine Road, Morecambe, LA4 5AA, and specifically, of those vehicles how many were Blue Badge Holders. There have been 7 issued in the spot mentioned since September 2009 – Lancashire County Council were not responsible for enforcement prior to this. Of these 4 have been paid, 2 are outstanding and 1 has been cancelled. We do not know how many of these people were blue badge holders as there is no requirement to display a badge on this restriction.
Attachments	None

Parking statistics for Preston

Reference	787.384
Date Responded	29/06/2010
Response Type	Partial disclosure, some information not held
Request	DESCRIMINALISED PARKIGN ENFORCEMENT I would be grateful if you would provide me with the Parking Statistics for Lancashire, for the calendar year 2009. I would like the statistics listed by District Authority, and in the following format :- Number of Penalty Charge Notices issued Number of Penalty Charge Notices waived or cancelled Number of Penalty Charge Notices paid at the Discounted rate Number of Penalty Charge Notices paid the Full rate
Response	Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Further to your email dated 24^th May 2010 in which you request the disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are now in a position to provide you with a response. I would be grateful if you would provide me with the Parking Statistics for Lancashire, for the calendar year 2009. I would like the statistics listed by District Authority, and in the following format :- Number of Penalty Charge Notices issued 19,392 Number of Penalty Charge Notices waived or cancelled 1,933 Number of Penalty Charge Notices paid at the Discounted rate 11,841 Number of Penalty Charge Notices paid the Full rate 2,798 Please note, we are only able to provide parking statistics up to September 2009 as the partnership with the Districts ended so as of that date we no longer have the figures. You will need to contact the District Councils direct for parking statistics after September 2009. Details of the District Councils within Lancashire can be found at the following URL: http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/atoz/a_to_z/service.asp?u_id=2329&tab=1 The above URL will take you through to the websites for each District Council, from where you will be able to obtain their contact details.
Attachments	None

Unpaid parking tickets to foreign vehicles

Reference	787.906
Date Responded	03/12/2010
Response Type	Partial disclosure, some information refused under section 12(1)
Request	How much money is owed by foreign-registered vehicles in unpaid parking tickets since January 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? Are there figures for this year? If so please provide the latest? How much money has been written off in unpaid parking tickets to foreign-registered vehicles since 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? Are there figures for this year? If so please provide the latest? How much money has been paid/how many parking tickets have been settled by the owners of foreign-registered vehicles since January 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? Are there figures for this year? If so please provide the latest? Is there one area that is particularly bad/common/frequent for these offences? If so where (road, near such and such port/A road/motorway)?
Response	Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Further to your email, dated 8 December, in which you request the disclosure of information regarding Penalty Charge Notices, I am now in a position to respond and answer each of your questions in turn below. How much money is owed by foreign-registered vehicles in unpaid parking tickets since January 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? None outstanding How much money has been written off in unpaid parking tickets to foreign-registered vehicles since 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? Financial years: 08/09: 1 PCN = £70 09/10: 11 PCNs = £800 How much money has been paid/how many parking tickets have been settled by the owners of foreign-registered vehicles since January 2008 (Can this figure be split down to how much is owed for 08/09 then 09/10 – please state whether this is financial year or January to December)? We are unable to determine this figure, as our reporting systems cannot differentiate between a UK vehicle and a foreign vehicle before we conduct a DVLA check; drivers may have paid the charge before the DVLA check is conducted, so we do not know what the true answer would be without analyzing photographs and vehicle details for every single PCN issued. Performing such a task would obviously incur a commitment of resources in excess of the limit of £450 set by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 3244 of 2004), which equates to 18 hours of work. Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act provides that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request where to do so would exceed such a limit. Are there figures for this year? If so please provide the latest? No. Is there one area that is particularly bad/common/frequent for these offences? If so where(road, near such and such port/A road/motorway)? There are insufficient details to be able to draw a significant conclusion.
Attachments	None