04.08.14
Unpaid fines by foreign drivers costing councils millions – LGA
Councils are writing off millions of pounds worth of unpaid parking fines every year because they are unable to trace drivers of foreign vehicles, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).
A third of councils, in a new LGA poll, reported that thousands of tickets issued to vehicles registered outside the UK are being ripped up as the driver cannot be traced.
Under current EU rules, European vehicles are permitted to drive on roads in the UK for six months before having to register with the DVLA. However, the LGA claims that the government does not keep a record of the estimated three million cars entering the country each year.
Additionally, the DVLA only records information about non-UK-registered vehicles when they are notified through offence reports provided by the police or from tip-offs from the public. It has been claimed this leaves many local authorities chasing fines, which end up not being paid.
Examples of the cost to councils include:
- In the past 12 months, Bournemouth Council has been forced to write off £57,000 worth of parking fines to foreign-registered vehicles while Maidstone Council has written off £28,455 worth of tickets.
- Leicester City Council has written off £20,000 in tickets in the past year. Torbay Council is owed £15,810, Milton Keynes Council £13,365 and Doncaster Council has had to rip up £12,000 worth of tickets.
- About 2% of all parking tickets issued in Brighton are to non-UK registered vehicles, at a value of around £2,000 a month. Most of these go unpaid.
- Oxfordshire, Southampton and Portsmouth councils have collectively been forced to rip up more than 10,000 tickets issued in the past five years to foreign-registered vehicles valued at more than £500,000.
Cllr Peter Box, chair of the LGA’s Economy and Transport Board, has called for the government to get tougher on these motorists by logging foreign vehicles more effectively.
He said: “Reckless and inconsiderate parking by non-UK registered vehicles puts other drivers and pedestrians at risk. The millions of pounds worth of fines written off could also be spent filling potholes, providing bus services and tackling the £12bn repair backlog to bring our roads up to scratch.”
Box added that by introducing a central database it would allow the government to get tougher on people failing to register their vehicle.
A Department for Transport spokesman said the department was aware of the issue of foreign vehicles failing to register if they have been in the UK for longer than six months.
“Discussions are currently ongoing across government to identify ways of improving the flow of information between agencies in order to tackle this problem and we hope to announce firm plans shortly,” she said.
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]