Foreign drivers avoid £130,000 in Lancashire parking fines (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Foreign drivers avoid £130,000 in Lancashire parking fines

2:17pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008 in News By Tom Moseley, Reporter

FOREIGN drivers have escaped without paying £130,000 in parking fines in Lancashire in four years.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show 2,250 tickets have been cancelled since 2004 because they were given to foreign vehicles.

Experts say there is no way of pursuing the fines, which “might as well be thrown in the bin”.

But bosses at Parkwise admit they have no idea how many tickets are still being given out to foreign cars.

Parking campaigner Neil Herron said: “There is no way to trace the vehicle’s owner.

" If you issue a ticket to a foreign-registered vehicle you might as well throw it in the bin, because it will have to be written off.

JOIN THE DEBATE

What do you think of the loss of fines? Add your comments below.

“They issue the ticket in the remote possibility that it will be paid.

"If it is not paid they need to send a notice to the owner - but that must be the person on the DVLA database.”

The Lancashire Telegraph asked Parkwise how many parking tickets relating to foreign drivers were currently unpaid - but were told this information was not recorded, because wardens could not always tell whether a car is from overseas.

However, the ‘foreign vehicle cancellation report’ showed hundreds of tickets were being written off each year.

Almost 6,000 parking tickets were listed as ‘outstanding’ in a recent audit of Parkwise, which controls parking enforcement throughout Lancashire except for Blackburn with Darwen.

The scheme, a partnership between district councils and County Hall, has been dogged by administration costs and it was recently revealed it cost as much as £60 to issue a ticket in each area.

The project is set to be abandoned in its current form when the current contract expires in September 2009.

Mr Herron added: “If they are inefficient working with the DVLA think how inefficient they will be with foreign authorities.

“It may well be that the best thing for them to do would be to ignore foreign drivers for administrative purposes.”

A Parkwise spokesman said: “Foreign vehicles which are issued with a penalty charge notice are treated in the same way as UK registered vehicles.

“Civil enforcement officers are required to issue a PCN to any vehicle parked in contravention regardless of where they are from.

“Parkwise also follow the same statutory process and will enter into correspondence at foreign addresses when required.”