One in six parking tickets issued by Swindon Council is revoked

8:00am Saturday 27th October 2012 in Latest News By Matthew Edwards

A parking warden on patrol in in the town centre A parking warden on patrol in in the town centre

ONE in six parking tickets have wrongly been handed out to drivers since 2011.

Drivers have successfully appealed 6,447 tickets that have been slapped on their cars since the start of 2011, figures obtained under the Freedom Of Information Act have shown.

Out of 43,293 tickets issued by Swindon Council, 15 per cent of them were queried by motorists and revoked for reasons such as a having a parking ticket or Blue Badges that might not have been visible when the car was booked.

The tickets that were correctly issued brought in more than half a million pounds for the council in 2011 which, by law, has to be ploughed back into transport measures.

The 25,134 tickets handed out brought in £670,270, with drivers racking up a debt of £2,020 over the year.

The council employs the equivalent to 20 full time traffic wardens to patrol the streets and the council has said it has no set targets that have to be met when it comes to the number of tickets issued.

Of the tickets issued in 2011, more than a quarter of them are still unpaid, with 6,603 penalty charge notices still outstanding or cancelled and written off.

Swindon Council said the fact that so many tickets were successfully challenged was a good thing, because it shows the council is prepared to listen to complaints.

A spokesman said: “We cancel a lot of penalty charge notices because we’re prepared to listen to people if they have a reasonable excuse.

“Drivers should be reassured by this – they would have more reason to be worried if we didn’t cancel many.

“Actual errors by our officers only account on average for one booking a day, which is low.

“If people don’t like any parking decision we make they have the right to go to the independent parking ombudsman, entirely without cost to them, for a ruling.

“All the details on the procedures are provided to people when they get a penalty charge notice and are on the council website.

“The great majority of penalty charge notices we issue are legitimate and given for good reason.

Resident Peter O’Shaughnessy said: “It is unfair that so many people get away with illegally parking while people like me who have residents parking are given parking fines if we park in the two hour section in our own street when we have no choice.

“Walk up Commercial Road you will find at least 10 cars illegally parked and they get away with it. “It is much easier for wardens to walk along residential streets and give out tickets than book cars or vans illegally parked and causing an obstruction which is far more serious.”

Comments(28)

Davidsyrett says...
11:59am Sat 27 Oct 12

Fatman, Why mention the colour of the skin of the traffic warden? Does this have any issue with your complaint?

Report this post »

Strange old life this says...
12:41pm Sat 27 Oct 12

Don't know about patrolling residential streets. I live in a street just of the town centre and we are lucky if we see two visits a year. There are times when 30-40% of the vehicles in the street are parked illegally While I'm on the subject when are we going to see the much vaunted reduction in resident parking fees. Over to you Councillors Wood and Pajak.

Report this post »

MrAngry says...
12:42pm Sat 27 Oct 12

Fatman, the appeals process is about cancelling tickets which have been issued incorrectly.

You admit to parking illegally for one minute and therefore the ticket was correctly issued.

Personally, I doubt that you were there for just one minute. If so, the traffic warden must have been within a few yards of your car when you parked. Didn't you see her or are you admitting to stupidity?

Secondly, if you can park, climb out of your car, walk to a shop, collect your goods, walk back and climb back into your car in one minute, you must be an olympic athlete and clearly don't need a blue badge.

When you referred to the traffic warden as 'coloured' did you mean 'black' or were you booked by a smurf?

Report this post »

fatman says...
4:11pm Sat 27 Oct 12

Yes I saw her , her camera held so high in the air to make it look worse ,I spoke to her , got sarcasim from her in responce to my point , and to one of the previous posters , no It is nothing to do with the colour of her , in fact some of my best friends are coloured , it was like she had a chip on her shoulder , I know these people do great work , but this was
so unreal , the point I was making was a the council so say listening b other vechiles illegally parked ignored

Report this post »

peter o's says...
6:02pm Sat 27 Oct 12

If 1 in 6 (17%) of tickets were wrongly issued, the parking wardens are very bad at their jobs and should be sure before doing so as this causes distress and anger. Such a high percentage of errors would not be tolerated by many employers.

Report this post »

Oik1 says...
7:16pm Sat 27 Oct 12

It goes to show having a blue badge DOES NOT allow anyone to park where they like causing a dangerous obstruction, parking anywhere on a bus lane deserves a parking ticket, as a blue badge holder you knew this when you parked up. Where you can and cannot park comes with the blue badge scheme and you are asked not to abuse the privilege given to you, however ignorance and stupidity come with the decisions of the driver.

That aside, 1 in 6 tickets being revoked is better than I thought it would be, I don't doubt come the day I get one they won't listen though, ah well should of thought of that before parking.

Report this post »

fatman says...
7:57pm Sat 27 Oct 12

Davey gravey you are so thick ,this is a board for opinions , I have mine and you miss the point , I have spoke about this before which I am entitled to do , and why I am on here today is because of the story about The Council listen ,they didn't listen to my complaint about other vechiles illegally parked ,yet I parked illegally was ticketed yet the others were not . So before you comment try engaging your brain that is if you have one

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
8:12pm Sat 27 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
Davey gravey you are so thick ,this is a board for opinions , I have mine and you miss the point , I have spoke about this before which I am entitled to do , and why I am on here today is because of the story about The Council listen ,they didn't listen to my complaint about other vechiles illegally parked ,yet I parked illegally was ticketed yet the others were not . So before you comment try engaging your brain that is if you have one
Lol the irony. You are bitter at getting a ticket you deserved. You parked in a bus stop which is illegal. That ends any arguement or excuse you wish to make,including the colour of the warden or what any other cars were doing.

Report this post »

fatman says...
8:31pm Sat 27 Oct 12

Glad you accepted you are thick *nuff*
said

Report this post »

timt1964 says...
8:40pm Sat 27 Oct 12

why give traffic wardens cameras? proof that all these councils dont like the constant accusations of dodgy practises by their employees.on the subject of colour,where are the wardens in manchester road when all the turks,poles,pakistan
is are parked on double yellows? im not racist but dont like to drive down a straight road that should be clear and keep stopping to let traffic through because of dodgy parking.you pay a fortune for a house and have to pay to park outside,what a joke.why do people give in to extortion like this from these councils? .

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
8:48pm Sat 27 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
Glad you accepted you are thick *nuff*
said
I must have missed that bit. Anyway good evening oh wise one(the one who calls other people thick yet parks in bus stops) I'm off out for a few jars....

Report this post »

female resident says...
7:53am Sun 28 Oct 12

We don't see the wardens for weeks, but park for two seconds outside your house when there is no other space and they leap out of nowhere. Do you think our Council Tax would be reduced if they got it right every time and weren't so keen to slap tickets everywhere?

Report this post »

Angry Bloke ( again ) says...
3:21pm Sun 28 Oct 12

Only one person has actually picked up on the fact that an employees work is consistently 17% incorrect. I'm sure, that along with alot of other employed people, that this is not good enough.
If an employee in a shop gave the incorrect change 1 time in every 6, I'm sure they would be moved/sacked/retrain
ed.

Report this post »

fatman says...
3:30pm Sun 28 Oct 12

Davey gravey think the drink is affecting your brain

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
4:20pm Sun 28 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
Davey gravey think the drink is affecting your brain
I made the comment before going for a drink. Making yourself look more of a fool with every comment you make. I'd give it a rest. Maybe brush up on the highway code instead. Might teach you where to park in the future

Report this post »

MrAngry says...
5:24pm Sun 28 Oct 12

Angry Bloke ( again ) wrote:
Only one person has actually picked up on the fact that an employees work is consistently 17% incorrect. I'm sure, that along with alot of other employed people, that this is not good enough.
If an employee in a shop gave the incorrect change 1 time in every 6, I'm sure they would be moved/sacked/retrain

ed.
1 in 6 are revoked and more than 1 in 4 are unpaid.

Pretty poor whichever way you look at it.

Report this post »

itsamess3 says...
7:23pm Sun 28 Oct 12

A parking offence is a parking offence-unless there is one of many reasons when being ticketed breaks the rules or the offence is a police matter not the councils like parking on pavements which is an obstruction.
As a disabled driver there are different rules-and as pointed out by Mr Angry it does not cover parking in bus lanes nor loading bays--always a problem when you have 2 furniture shops and 2 takeaways that park to load on a very busy road.
Basically to gain a blue badge stands on how far you can walk without problems.
As the recipient of the ticket could easily have parked opposite in parking areas or right opposite the shops on double yellows visited within the rules and distances could have legally parked on the double yellows without penalty--its the law.
As to those in residential areas who are blighted with the early morning invasion of areas by traffic wardens that have insufficient on street parking there is an appeal procedure that covers this as it would be deemed corrupt practice when there is clearly not enough parking spaces for all the residents to park without parking on double yellows.
The transfer of power to councils did include the function and duty to keep main routes clear of parked cars--not residential areas.
Corrupt practice such as double yellows in high housing areas where housing double yellows cause parking offences is deemed corrupt practice.

Report this post »

fatman says...
10:00pm Sun 28 Oct 12

I had 2 wheels on the end of the bus lane but what davey gravey can not grasp is the fact that there were other vans cars parked illegally and nothing done about them ,perhaps it is a bit hard for him to grasp , the beer is affecting his judgement poor fella , hope he recovers soon

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
10:50pm Sun 28 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
I had 2 wheels on the end of the bus lane but what davey gravey can not grasp is the fact that there were other vans cars parked illegally and nothing done about them ,perhaps it is a bit hard for him to grasp , the beer is affecting his judgement poor fella , hope he recovers soon
10 out of 10 for perseverance,but you're still a buffoon I'm afraid. You parked illegally. End of debate. Accept it and move on

Report this post »

house on the hill says...
2:14pm Mon 29 Oct 12

""Angry Bloke ( again ) says...
3:21pm Sun 28 Oct 12
Only one person has actually picked up on the fact that an employees work is consistently 17% incorrect. I'm sure, that along with alot of other employed people, that this is not good enough.
If an employee in a shop gave the incorrect change 1 time in every 6, I'm sure they would be moved/sacked/retrain

ed.”""

Coudnt agree more, where i work if you are consistently more than 1% wrong then you are out the door and rightly so, we all expect others to get it right for us so we should be expected to do the same. Having said that, this is SBC we are talking about and anyone who has ever worked there will tell you that this is not uncomon. SBC has no competition for its services so they have become totally complacent on service and errors and really dont give a ****, after all, where else are we going to go for our services?

Yes it is appalling and it is our tax money being wasted on all the appeals and on staff who should have been sacked for that sort of incompetance, but if you sacked all the incompetant ones you would only have a handful left!

Report this post »

fatman says...
2:44pm Mon 29 Oct 12

davey garvey you are an obvious low life who just like to try and annoy posters who have the right to comment , if you don't like whats said don't read them , you probably cant read them any way you have your Mother read them for you
a s o l e

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
4:03pm Mon 29 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
davey garvey you are an obvious low life who just like to try and annoy posters who have the right to comment , if you don't like whats said don't read them , you probably cant read them any way you have your Mother read them for you
a s o l e
You are the one who has been abusive. You fail to answer the points I made with anything other than insults and abuse,and have the grammar of a primary school child. Grow up and learn how to park your car legally.

Report this post »

fatman says...
5:43pm Mon 29 Oct 12

davey gravey YOU are nothing short of a THICK PRATT YOU HAVE raised NO POINTS and as for the insults you started them and I have been winding you up like a clock YOU IDIOT

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
8:00pm Mon 29 Oct 12

fatman wrote:
davey gravey YOU are nothing short of a THICK PRATT YOU HAVE raised NO POINTS and as for the insults you started them and I have been winding you up like a clock YOU IDIOT
Haha.its all above for anyone to read. I'm not wound up at all. On the contrary it is you who have been ranting in your petty childish way. And you are the one who still got fined although the council made errors which says it all. They got yours right.

Report this post »

fatman says...
9:13pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Shows how thick you really are . Where did I ever say the council made errors , I said they do not listen , in response to the Adver story ,so get your facts right before spoke in with your drivel , end of discussion , you can have the last word as it is obvious this is what you want , so it all yours ****

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
9:17pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Lol

Report this post »

PJC says...
1:02pm Tue 30 Oct 12

Davey Gravey wrote:
Lol
Blimey, Mr. Gravey, has fatman got anger management issues, or what?! I think you were completely calm & reasonable.

Report this post »

Davey Gravey says...
4:23pm Tue 30 Oct 12

PJC wrote:
Davey Gravey wrote:
Lol
Blimey, Mr. Gravey, has fatman got anger management issues, or what?! I think you were completely calm & reasonable.
Tried to reason with an idiot. My own fault I suppose.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree