Fleet scepticism over new parking regulations

Fleets could miss out on the chance to recover thousands of pounds worth of parking fines if the government does a U-turn on plans for fairer enforcement.

Due to be introduced in March next year, new regulations will give independent adjudicators more powers – including the right to ask local authorities to scrap fines for motorists who have mitigating circumstances.

According to industry experts, this could result in savings running into hundreds of thousands of pounds for large fleets.

But some fleet managers believe that the proposals are doomed to failure once the government realises how much revenue could be lost.

Dermot Coughlan, transport manager at cabling and road maintenance firm Kelly Group, spends thousands of pounds each month on fixed penalties.

He said that if the new legislation is introduced, his company’s bill for parking tickets would reduce by up to 70% resulting in savings of up to £5,000 a week.

However, Transport Minister Rosie Winterton said it is vital that the government increases public confidence in parking enforcement by making it fairer and these new rules will make the system more transparent and consistent.