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Wakefield Council parking fine upset
Council bosses in Wakefield are set to turn their backs on a scheme which would let early payers slash their parking fines by half – because it could hit the council in the pocket.
Wakefield Council's cabinet will next week be asked to defer adopting new parking fine legislation for another year because number crunchers have forecast it would make them less revenue from fixed penalties.
The Civil Parking Enforcement scheme (CPE) was originally endorsed by cabinet in July 2006.
A report which will go to cabinet next week says: "The appraisal was drafted on the basis that implementation of CPE would result in an increased issue of Penalty Charge Notice tickets resulting in an annual operating surplus of 145,000 from year two of implementation."
But new studies of the scheme carried out by council officers have shown that because people have the chance to reduce their fines by paying early, taking up the legislation would mean less money being made from fines.
Parking fines in Wakefield are currently 45 and cannot be reduced.
The report says: "Together with most authorities, WMDC are proposing to adopt a charge of 70 for higher level offences and 50 for lower offences. Both of these charges will be subject to a mandatory 50 per cent reduction in fine charges for payments made within 14 days.
"It is anticipated that the financial effect of implementing CPE legislation is likely to be a decline in individual fine receipt values as the majority of fines are likely to be paid within the reduction period."
The report adds that taking up the CPE would mean operating at a loss of 197,000 in its first year and recommends that the council defers taking up CPE until 2010.
This is not the first time Wakefield Council's car parks have hit the headlines.
More than 4,000 parking fines have been slapped on motorists in Wakefield city centre in the last year.
And last year some motorists successfully appealed against their 45 fines because signs in council car parks had not been updated.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
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