Investigation exposes CCTV cars £½ million budget bonus

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Sep 2008

Questions have emerged over the fairness of Haringey Council's CCTV smart cars after an investigation carried out by the Liberal Democrats revealed that nearly one in eight of the 21,159 parking tickets issued last year were cancelled.

Information revealed under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 2,686 Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) were cancelled in the period August 2007 July 2008. In the same period the Council accumulated a minimum of £550,000 from parking tickets issued by the CCTV cars.

Liberal Democrats have called on Haringey Council's parking chief, Cllr Haley, to provide evidence that the vehicles provide a fair service and are not just a revenue-raising scheme for the council.

Cllr Martin Newton, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport and Highways, comments:

"With around 400 penalty notices being issued weekly by these vehicles, one has to question if these are being issued fairly for genuine safety and traffic control or whether this is yet another sneaky way to tax and annoy residents and visitors to Haringey. This is equivalent to a massive £11,500 per week earner for Haringey Council even if all penalties were paid at the 50% reduced rate.

"Even when Haringey Council has used incorrect lines and signs, these vehicles happily carry on dishing out penalties. The Labour Council should come clean and provide evidence that enforcement is fair in Haringey."