MPs call for action on haulier parking penalties
The House of Commons transport select committee has called on the government to act on the issue of road hauliers incurring penalty charge notices from councils during loading and unloading.
“It is unacceptable that local authorities set enforcement regimes that effectively force some companies to incur penalty charge notices (PCNs) costing hundreds of thousands of pounds a year for carrying out their business,” the committee said, in a wide-ranging report on council parking enforcement.
“Local authorities must ensure that the need to restrict parking and manage congestion does not stifle the ability of businesses to trade and help grow the economy. However, businesses cannot be completely exempt from parking restrictions. For their part, delivery companies must ensure that their drivers fully understand and seek to comply with the Orders in place.”
The committee recommended that the government should hold a ‘roundtable discussion’ with hauliers and councils to identify solutions, and provide greater clarity on the rules surrounding loading and unloading.
The Freight Transport Association said current legislation needed fundamental review in order to draw a distinction between parking for private cars and deliveries to commercial and residential premises.
FTA managing director of policy and communications James Hookham said that lorries were not in town centres to ‘park’, but to perform an essential economic task.
“No operator sets out to deliberately contravene the restrictions on parking, but the lack of adequate provision means that delivery vehicles have little choice but to stop on restricted routes to gain access to adjacent premises, and become ‘easy pickings’ for enforcement officers. The law needs to be clarified to distinguish between ‘parking’ and ‘delivery and servicing activity’.
“The issuing of a PCN is a sign of policy failure rather than enforcement success. However, due to the potentially large income local authorities can make from fines, the incentive is not there to reduce the numbers issued. Greater leadership by central government is needed to ensure a consistent and fair application of the parking policy framework which respects the difference between illegal parking and vital business deliveries.”
In an oral evidence session, Hookham told MPs that the FTA “used to have a committee called the Millionaires Club” – “a roomful of very angry members” who were “paying more than £1 million a year in parking fines in London”. He admitted that the number of operators paying such sums had “improved in recent years”, but said that frustration among FTA members about parking fines was again on the increase.
