Colchester Borough Council scammed by Capita.

patman99

My local Council (colchester) have fallen for the old 'CCTV car scam'. Their parking dept. (North Essex Parking Partnership) were looking at ways to control parking at Schools during drop-of and collection times. Along comes Capita with their 'spy' car for rent, and yes, you've guessed it, the Council lapped up the idea and as of Monday 3rd Feb. they will be using the hired services of this company to ticket anyone parked where they shouldn't.

The local paper ran a piece on it and the Councillor responsible was pictured standing by the car with a big grin on his face.
As the paper allowed comments on the article, I posted one which referred to the fact that tickets issued by the car are not legal and even pointed-out the fact that Southend Borough Council used a similar car (from APCOA) & ended-up having to refund every single ticket issued after a judge ruled them to be unenforceable.

My next step is to email my local B/Cllr & write a letter to the local paper.
As it is common knowledge in Essex (via the radio) about the 'Southend refund', I can quote this. However, I know that several other Councils have used these cars (and come unstuck in the Courts) including Richmond & Gloucester. What I want to know is -

How many other Councils got turned-over in Court and had to refund all the parking tickets issued as a result of using these cars.

daveyjp

The car can only be at one school at a time, so can a warden. A warden has a presence which means they can go to cars parked illegally, educate the driver about the dangers of parking where they are and get them to move on to ensure safety for children.

A CCTV camera car can be parked up, takes lots of photos, issue tickets, but it doesn't move the problem at the time of the offence so the danger remains, but the operator makes money. A few parents get annoyed, pay the money, but next day the car is elsewhere and the problem persists.

If it were me every school should have staff members who are outside at pick up and drop off to educate car drivers.

Stroma

So basically a new way for parking eye to scam people

The_Slithy_Tove

I thought CCTV enforcement was only allowed in locations where it is not practical to have a "real" CEO, i.e. feet on the ground. This is a prefect example of where it is not legitimate.


Why is it that it's the local council tax payers who'll have to foot the bill when it all goes t***s up, rather than the individual councillors who should really have to pay for their own incompetence?

Aaron_Aadvark

daveyjp wrote: »

A CCTV camera car can be parked up, takes lots of photos, issue tickets, but it doesn't move the problem at the time of the offence so the danger remains, but the operator makes money.

So in the worst case the Council gets a few quid in the bank and a nice picture of a child suffering an accident whilst the Council takes no immediate action against the cause.

spacey2012

ANY ANPR equipment presented in court as evidence for any purpose must meet have VCS certification.
I think you will find the budget DIY system they use does not.
same with parking Eye's evidence, trouble is most folk admit to been at the car park and shaft the defence up.

lollipopsarah

daveyjp this is a huge problem and sadly even with staff outside and letters given out sometimes weekly there are still drivers who only care about their little ones.
I hate to think what would happen if an emergency vehicle is needed near our school sometimes.
xx

Stroma

Yes but how will a ticket weeks later through the post will actually stop an accident? Obviously the people doing this are very selfish and acting in a way that they deserve these tickets. It is a difficult one to handle, but these cameras are for income generation nothing more.

Bantex_2

Stroma wrote: »

Yes but how will a ticket weeks later through the post will actually stop an accident? Obviously the people doing this are very selfish and acting in a way that they deserve these tickets. It is a difficult one to handle, but these cameras are for income generation nothing more.

so would you suggest stronger legal powers for the parking companies?

Selfish/illegal parking outside schools is dangerous.

spacey2012

No it is just councils abusing the powers they were "trusted" with to make profit.
Unless the correct traffic order is present and no stopping signs and a single yellow line is down the side of the road, yellow zig zags are only recommendatory .

Only a correct TRO enforced no stopping sign forbids motorist from stopping briefly to disembark or collect passengers.

Local councils work on the assumption that the majority of the public are totally ignorant of the law and will just pay up when faced with bullying.

The majority of tickets they issue are illegal as they are people dropping off passengers on single lines outside of the no stopping zones which is a lawfully permitted act.
Upholding the law is a civic duty and I am happy to uphold our laws and will assist anyone who is wrongly accused of breaking the law by a profit scrounging bunch of scammers.

newbutold

lollipopsarah wrote: »

daveyjp this is a huge problem and sadly even with staff outside and letters given out sometimes weekly there are still drivers who only care about their little ones.
I hate to think what would happen if an emergency vehicle is needed near our school sometimes.
xx

It was a problem at my school, with parents ignoring letters etc. the local pcso started popping by and politely informing the bad drivers/Parkers where they shouldn't be parked and warning them that they would be ticketed next time. He also wrote to all parents via the school. Explaining where they could park and that they would be tickets. Explained about not parking within X metres of a junction and also parking on the side of the road that you car is facing and not parking facing the wrong way. Surprising the number of people that didn't know the Highway Code!

Anyway long story short, it has really helped at our school as he still randomly comes and checks so drivers are never sure when he will pop up and on the whole don't park where they shouldn't as they do not want to risk a ticket.

More schools should try this!