Drivers fined £300m a year

[xxxxxxrich]

Evening Standard said:

Drivers fined £300m a year By David Williams Motoring Editor, Evening Standard 2 February 2005 The full extent of parking fines and fees paid by motorists in London is revealed today. New figures show councils rake in almost £300 million a year - way above previous estimates. Westminster council alone took more than £64million in fines, clamping and towing fees and parking meter cash, the figures show. Second on the "rich list" is Kensington and Chelsea which took nearly £31million, followed by Camden which took £29,259 in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available. Alongside the huge parking incomes collected by the boroughs, there has also been a significant increase in violent attacks on parking attendants. According to the Association of London Government (ALG), more than three wardens are attacked in the capital each day. Wardens have been set upon by groups of attackers wielding baseball bats, run over by motorists and even shot at. Both sets of data will form part of the evidence the ALG - which represents the boroughs - will deliver to a London Assembly investigation into parking enforcement in the capital next week. The 25-page dossier reveals that: # An estimated 50 million parking offences are committed in London each year, of which only about 10 per cent are detected - although in areas where CCTV is used, detection rates have leapt to 80 per cent. # About 15 to 20 per cent of fines issued to motorists are not paid. # Motorists challenge two in 10 parking tickets, but only one per cent of all those that are issued get as far as the independent Parking and Traffic Appeals Service. Six in 10 appeals that go before adjudicators are won by motorists. # Of the 29 councils for which figures are available, only two made a loss on parking operations. Nine had surpluses of less than £1 million while 24 had surpluses of up to £4 million. # Out of the boroughs' total £296.5million income from parking, they paid £184million to run their parking schemes - leaving a surplus of £112.5million. That surplus, says the report, is spent on schemes including funding "freedom pass" travel concessions for the elderly and disabled, cycle lanes and projects such as the new Hungerford Bridge and the revamp of Kensington High Street. The rise in attacks on wardens is condemned by the report. "Parking attendants work in difficult circumstances, frequently on their own," it reads. "While the outcome of their work is beneficial to London, those receiving penalties are rarely appreciative of this and many are abusive. "On average more than three attendants are assaulted every day in London - a shocking statistic." Meanwhile, speed cameras are generating more than £20 million a year in profit, it emerged today. The number of speeding tickets issued in England and Wales has soared sevenfold from 260,000 in 2000-2001 to 1.8 million in 2003-2004. The Treasury has defended the increase in profit, claiming it would be used for public services. The figures come from a written parliamentary question to David Jamieson, the road safety minister. Alistair Darling the Transport Secretary defended the use of speed cameras. He said the vast majority of cameras had brought "real benefits in safety and prove they are justified".

[MilnerR]

That means that as one of the worlds largest economies, fines for minor motoring offences are equal to 0.02% of our GDP. That doesn't sound like a lot until you realise what a rich nation the UK is. Its staggering! That means that every man woman and child pays around £5 each in fines for motoring offences!

[xxxxxxrich]

Not quite sure where you got your numbers from but in another paper I read that Council Parking revenue generates 1 Billion a year across the country.

[JMGS4]

So £300 Million in fines less the £20 Million received by HM Treasury means that £280 MILLION POUNDS p.a. is being wasted by these scum of scamera scrotes???

Time for a revolution methinks, as their claims of reducing deaths IS NOT TRUE and therefore they should all be put out of a job!!!!

[xxxxxxrich]

JMGS4 said:

So £300 Million in fines less the £20 Million received by HM Treasury means that £280 MILLION POUNDS p.a. is being wasted by these scum of scamera scrotes??? Time for a revolution methinks, as their claims of reducing deaths IS NOT TRUE and therefore they should all be put out of a job!!!!

This Money is the money generated by parking (Paid for parking and fines) in London not Scamera. They have a surplus of £112.5 million out of the 300 Million they take so they blow 190 Million on paying the Parking Attendants and whoever maintains the Meters/Pay and Display machines, that is a lot of doe!!!

Would it not be better to do something like set up a Toll and let everyone park for free in London, would that be cheaper than 190 Million pounds of our money?

[granville]

JMGS4 said:

So £300 Million in fines less the £20 Million received by HM Treasury means that £280 MILLION POUNDS p.a. is being wasted by these scum of scamera scrotes??? Time for a revolution methinks, as their claims of reducing deaths IS NOT TRUE and therefore they should all be put out of a job!!!!

Once more, I have nothing but vociferous applause for the right honourable gentleman.

Awful, lower middle class yobbos, vivisect the lot of 'em!

[nonegreen]

JMGS4 said:

So £300 Million in fines less the £20 Million received by HM Treasury means that £280 MILLION POUNDS p.a. is being wasted by these scum of scamera scrotes??? Time for a revolution methinks, as their claims of reducing deaths IS NOT TRUE and therefore they should all be put out of a job!!!!

The sentiment is correct though the figures are out. The sandalista councils get £1bn from parking fines and the death/theft scumrashits pull in £180M in blood money. The scumrashits spend £160M on paying themselves and giving grants to all sorts of other tossers including charities that support the killing of innocent motorists with death cameras. If these crimes were being commited by the Mafia then the administration cost would be around £5M. (Based on a similar scheme run by a man called Capone in the 1920s). This is a good illustration of how efficient the Uk administration are.