South Holland District Council ‘squanders’ £18,000 on car park fines service

Fail-to-pay and overstaying motorists have escaped fines in South Holland car parks for the past year – but it has come at a cost to the taxpayer of £18,000.

No fines have been issued to motorists without valid tickets in South Holland District Council owned car parks this financial year due to staffing issues, but a firm contracted to provide services to process fines, Civil Enforcement Solutions, still had to be paid £18,000.
The plan had been for income from fines to cover the cost of that contract.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Council tax is a heavy burden on household budgets and local taxpayers will want to see their money go towards helping frontline services instead of being squandered like this.
“It’s important that those making these decisions learn from their mistakes so that more money isn’t unnecessarily wasted next year.”

Roger Gambba-Jones, the district councillor with responsibility for car parks, said the situation arose because a member of the small team responsible for, among other things, issuing car park penalty notices was off with illness that became long-term.

He said: “It may seem perverse to suggest but in a roundabout way we have saved taxpayers money by not going to an agency and employing somebody to fill this gap whilst someone was on long-term sick leave.”

Regardless, Coun Gambba-Jones said a similar deficit would not be allowed to arise again and the terms of the contract with Civil Enforcement Solutions would be considered as part of an ongoing review of service provision.
He said he was cautious of outsourcing the issuing of car parking tickets to a private firm for fear it could become a mercenary business, with fines inflated to cover costs.

However, consideration is being given to the viability of introducing automated parking enforcement systems, perhaps like the number plate recognition system installed at Spalding’s Sainsbury’s car park. Options for motorists to pay for tickets using debit and credit cards are also being looked into.