There has been a twenty-five percent increase in parking fines handed out by Derry City & Strabane District Council between 2015 and 2017.
Figures released by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) revealed that close to 2,000 additional parking fines or PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) were issued by parking attendees in 2017 compared to 2015.
Encompassing on-street and off-street parking, in 2015 a total of 7,697 parking fines were issued, this rose to 8,077 in 2016, then to 9,605 last year.
A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council explained that Council currently operates fifteen paid car parks in the city of Derry and Strabane Town Centre.
Charges for parking offences are levied in these car parks by NSL on behalf of Council and are then collected by the Department for Infrastructure under an agency agreement with Council.
Responsibility for car parks was handed over from central government to local government i.e. Derry City and Strabane District Council in 2015.
The spokesperson confirmed that since that transition ‘a total of £373,907.37’ has been collected.
He added: “Within the agency agreement with NSL and Department for Infrastructure, Council is liable to pay the costs associated with the processing of all Penalty Charge Notices issued regardless of whether they are collected or not.
“The costs for processing the PCN’s issued is budgeted at approximately £120,000 per annum.
"In addition to the costs for processing of PCN’s Council is also liable for the maintenance, gritting and cleansing of all car parks.”
The total income for all on-street PCNs issued throughout Northern Ireland in 2017 was £4,282,728.
In January of last year, then Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazard said ‘any town that was routinely enforced and generated less than 10 PCNs/VDAs on average per month, will be removed from the schedule for routine traffic attendant deployment.’
As a result of this review a number of towns were removed from the schedule for routine traffic attendant (TA) deployment and ‘resources were redeployed to areas of greater need’.
A spokesperson for DfI refuted any suggestion that traffic attendants are encouraged to hand out fines, saying: “Traffic Attendants (TAs) are assigned routes to patrol, known as beats, which are agreed as part of the contract between the Department and the parking enforcement service provider NSL.
“TAs are not incentivised to hand out fines but they are expected to issue PCNs to vehicles found to be parked in contravention of mandatory parking restrictions.”
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