Plymouth City Council is getting tough on persistent parking offenders, as new powers to immobilise and remove the vehicles of persistent evaders and those parked who are preventing or restricting works or authorised events come into force.
It comes as the authority’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Jonathan Drean signed an executive order to implement the changes.
The Department for Transport defines a ‘persistent evader’ as a vehicle that has three or more penalty charge notices (PCNs) that have been unpaid and unchallenged.
There are currently 692 vehicles in Plymouth classed as ‘persistent evaders’, with a total of 4,702 outstanding PCNs.
Under the new rules, Plymouth City Council will be able to remove the vehicle to a secure compound and hold it until a release fee is paid.
Vehicle owners will be required to pay the release fee, as well as storage fees, which are all set by legislation.
Another issue that the authority currently face is disruption to its highway maintenance programme, which ranges from gully cleansing to resurfacing roads.
Despite these works being subject to traffic orders and prohibiting parking, some motorists ignore these, which the council said has a significant impact on the delivery of these works.
As Plymouth prepares to deliver a programme of events, the council said that vehicles parked in contravention to traffic orders for authorised events may adversely affect the events and/or cause security concerns.
The new powers also mean that the council can remove any vehicle that is preventing or restricting works or authorised events.
Commenting, Councillor Drean said:
“We made a commitment to step up parking enforcement in the city and these new proposals will help us to keep Plymouth’s roads safe by providing greater powers to address hazards and obstructions caused by a small minority of inconsiderate motorists.
“This will greatly help us to ensure motorists do not accrue unpaid or unchallenged parking fines going forward, whilst helping us seek to recover unpaid and unchallenged fines where recovery has not been possible due to registered keepers not updating registered keeper records.
“I’m delighted that we have these new powers and I hope that those who do flout the law see this as a warning that we won’t hesitate to seize their vehicles.”
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