Parking fine fiasco may cost £3m

8:15am Tuesday 13th March 2007

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THREE million pounds of taxpayers' money has been needlessly wasted by the council in a parking fine fiasco, it was revealed this week.

On May 3 last year, the day before the Tories came into power, the council was sent a letter warning that its Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) might be illegal.

The letter, from the Association of Local Government (ALG), urged the council to review its PCNs following a High Court ruling that notices without dates were invalid.

But the council did not review the notices and consequently could not claim on the 73, 325 notices - resulting in a loss of £2.9million.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz (Lab, Northolt West End), Labour transport spokesman, said: "The council announced the budget this week, but what they don't want people to know is that in their first month in power the Conservatives made a major error of judgement that has cost almost £3million.

"The advice given in May was very clear - this was an issue that all councils had to take seriously. The casual attitude means that residents of Ealing have to ask if the council can really be trusted to make the right decisions about how to spend taxpayers' money."

The warning from the ALG was sent after driver Hugh Moses took Barnet Council to the High Court to appeal against his parking fines.

The High Court ruled that the notices were invalid because they did not have the issue date on them.

The letter from the ALG read: "I would urge any borough that has not reviewed its PCN and amended it as appropriate to do so as a matter of urgency.

"Any changes would not necessarily be an admission that the previous design was wrong, but could be justified on the basis of clarity in the light of the adjudicator's decision.

"The model PCN shown in the draft revised Code of Practice, circulated last year, can be used as a basis."

But instead of reviewing the PCN the Conservative-led council decided to wait for the result of Barnet council's judicial review of the decision, which was later rejected.

Councillor Mahfouz said: "When the letter came in the choice was clear and simple - take prudent action or gamble with council tax payer's money.

"The Tories decided to gamble when the odds were stacked against them and they've lost. There should be no excuses."

The money to fill the £3million black hole has now been taken from the council's contingency fund - which has been topped up in this year's budget, agreed last Tuesday.

But Cllr Mahfouz has said the money would have been better spent on improving local services.

but Cllr Will Brooks, (Con, Greenford Green), has denied the loss could have been avoided.

"The original ruling by the parking adjudicator was specific to Barnet," he said. "It was not legally binding, and our reaction was the same as other London councils - including the biggest issuer of tickets, Westminster - to take a cautious approach and wait for the High Court judgement.

"Cllr Mahfouz is confused if he thinks we could have saved money by stopping the issuing of tickets before a definitive legal judgment had been laid down.

"It was only after the High Court ruling gave specific and detailed reasons regarding the problems with the PCNs that the council could make appropriate changes resolve the issue once and for all."