A proposal to allow drivers a grace period of 15 minutes if parking on double yellow lines has been rejected by the government, according to a written record of a House of Commons debate.
In place of the grace period, the government has taken alternative action in order to improve parking rules and regulations, a written answer from local government minister Brandon Lewis suggests.
In his correspondence, he lists all the changes that have been made since 2010, including how Labour’s Whitehall policy has been jettisoned, meaning local councils are no longer coerced into inflating car parking charges to discourage the public from using their cars. The government has also rolled out regulations requiring parking enforcement to be proportionate.
In addition, grace periods of ten minutes have been introduced so anyone using on-street parking or off-street municipal parking;will have longer to either extend their paid parking or move their car.
“Unreasonable parking charges and fines push up hard-working people’s cost of living. If parking is too expensive or difficult, shoppers will simply drive to out of town supermarkets or just shop online,undermining the vitality of town centres and leading to ‘ghost town’ high streets, “wrote Mr Lewis.
He believes the changes the coalition have made is evidence the government is standing up for hard-working people and local businesses. The reforms made since 2010 affect anyone working in parking and anyone wishing to park their cars in areas patrolled by traffic wardens.
The minister claims that previous rules and regulations allowed parking fines to be used as stealth taxes, which, in his opinion, is unconstitutional. However, Mr Lewis believes local councils have been making significant profits from parking revenues.
In his Written Answer, Mr Lewis quotes statistics from LV=, which reveal that there are nine million parking fines issued by local authorities every year, costing British motorists £30 million each month.
He believes some councils are raising money illegally through parking fines and despite the significant changes that have already been made, more needs to be done to prevent this from happening in the future.
