Parking wardens given ‘illegal’ bonus targets

Parking wardens are given ‘illegal’ bonuses based on the number of fines they dish out, according to an investigation by the BBC.

Three London Councils are now being probed by Local Government Minister, Brandon Lewis, as a result of the BBC’s research.

On Bing: see pictures of bad parking

UK pays £30 million a month in parking fines

Bromley Council’s parking firm Vinci reportedly paid wardens a bonus of £20 a ticket, with a target of 72,000 penalty charge notices – while Lambeth’s parking enforcement contractors NSL ‘requires’ 205,000 tickets to be issued a year.

Hackney Council contractors APCOA bands wardens according to their hourly ticket issue rate, stating that no more than 10% can fall below ‘band two’.

Brandon Lewis:

“These look like entirely the wrong kind of contract motivating and encouraging the staff to go out and penalise people and they only get paid well if they penalise somebody. That’s the wrong way to run the structure.”

Local authorities are prohibited from setting targets for the number of tickets issued or the revenue raised and doing so is a “serial breach of government guidance”, according to commercial litigation lawyer, Keith Oliver.

Parking fines are now a considerable income for London councils, with Lambeth making £12m last year – nearly double what it made in 2012.

On Bing: see pictures of bad parking

UK pays £30 million a month in parking fines

Crushed Ferrari FF gets parking ticket in NY

How to appeal a parking ticket

By motoringresearch.com