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Section headereastsussex.gov.uk

Parking in East SussexAnnual Report 2009 – 2010

PARKING IN EAST SUSSEX

ANNUAL REPORT

Contents

Chapter number Subject Page number

Chapter 1 Glossary of terms 2

Chapter 2 Foreword 3

Chapter 3 Parking Charter 4

Chapter 4 Policy Objectives 5

Chapter 5 Civil Parking Enforcement 6

Key Facts 7

Key Facts 8

Chapter 6 Operational and Financial information 9

On-street 9

Items funded by parking surplus 10

Off Street 11

Chapter 7 Penalty Charge Notices and Notice Processing 12

Chapter 8 Pay and Display 18

Chapter 9 Correspondence, complaints and 20 Freedom of Information requests

Chapter 10 The Penalty Charge Notice process 23

Chapter 11 The Future 27

Chapter 12 Contacts 28

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Chapter 1

Glossary of terms The list below shows some common abbreviations that may be used in this document.

Admin Administration CEA Civil Enforcement Area CEO Civil Enforcement Officer CPE Civil Parking Enforcement CPZ Controlled Parking Zone DfT Department for Transport DPE Decriminalised Parking Enforcement DVLA Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency ESCC East Sussex County Council HBC Hastings Borough Council LDC Lewes District Council LIP Local Implementation Plan LPG Liquid Petroleum Gas LTP Local Transport Plan NoR Notice of Rejection NtO Notice to Owner PCN Penalty Charge Notice PPA Permitted Parking Area RTRA Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 SEA Special Enforcement Area SLA Service Level Agreement SPA Special Parking Area TEC Traffic Enforcement Centre TMA Traffic Management Act 2004 TRO Traffic Regulation Order

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Chapter 2

Foreword by Matthew Lock, Lead Member for Transport and Environment At the time of drafting this report a review of the Eastbourne parking scheme had just been completed. An independent reviewer, WSP PB, has been used to undertake this extensive and thorough review. Due to a number of requests raised by local residents and councillors the review also included a number of satellite areas in Rodmill, Hampden Park and Meads. The outcome of the parking review has been shared with local and county councillors, and will be published on the ESCC website by the end of the November. Despite the economic downturn, increased use of pay and display parking in Hastings is evidence that we are delivering a clear parking policy to meet local demand. Commuter parking near railway stations results in the inability of residents to park near their homes. We have listened to and worked with residents and businesses in St Leonards in trying to meet their needs and resolve the parking issues around Warrior Square station. I am pleased that a parking scheme will be introduced in this area shortly to help residents and visitors to the area, whilst supporting the local economy and environment. A joint day of action took place in January tackling abuse of blue badges, unlicensed drivers, untaxed and non-insured vehicles in the Lewes area. The County Council worked with NSL, Sussex Police, Lewes District Council, East Sussex Fire and Rescue and Marston Group. Following the success of this event similar days are being planned in the future, across the county. We have received a number of requests for some changes to the Lewes parking scheme, particularly in and around Lewes town centre and as a result, a review of parking in Lewes and surrounding villages will commence in November 2010. I hope you find this parking annual report of interest; we are publishing it in the spirit of openness and transparency, to explain what is quite a complicated subject, and one that is of interest to many.

Councillor Matthew Lock

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Chapter 3

Parking Charter What YOU can expect of US 1. We will ensure that we mark streets and car parks with lines and signs as clearly as possible to show where you can and cannot park. 2. We will have no targets or incentives for the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) or for cancellation. 3. We will publish an annual report on our stewardship of the scheme and will be open and transparent whenever we can. We will publish the policies and guidelines that we follow in running the scheme and will invite public comment on them. 4. If you challenge a PCN, we will consider your case fairly, objectively and on its merits in line with our published policies and guidelines. We will take into account any evidence to show that you genuinely tried to comply with the rules but our decision will depend upon individual circumstances. 5. If you pay to park but overstay by less than ten minutes, we will not issue a PCN (or, if we do, we will cancel it) What WE expect of YOU 6. We expect you to make reasonable efforts to look out carefully for signs, suspension notices and the like and to park sensibly and in accordance with the rules. 7. If we cancel a PCN because we accept that you made a genuine mistake, we expect you to take particular care to avoid doing the same thing again and to accept that we will not normally cancel a PCN if you make the same mistake again. 8. We expect you to buy enough time to cover your stay allowing for the possibility of being delayed. 9. If, after buying a ticket, you overstay by ten minutes or more, we expect you to recognise that we have already allowed a reasonable margin and will only cancel your PCN in the most exceptional circumstances. 10. We expect you to let us know promptly if you encounter a problem with parking or are not sure of something so that we can sort it out. Don’t wait until you get a PCN.

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Chapter 4 Policy Objectives The effective control of parking is a crucial element of the County Council’s wider strategy to improve transport choice and reduce congestion and enhance the environment as set out in our Local Transport Plan1. Parking controls and enforcement will always be a balance between restricting the needs of some in order to protect or enhance the needs of others and that is a difficult balance to achieve. We aim to introduce controls and to undertake enforcement sensitively and in the best interest of those most directly affected – the motorist, the commercial driver and residents and businesses in the streets concerned. We have developed detailed rules to help us to apply the scheme fairly and consistently. These cover the circumstances in which we issue tickets; the tolerances we apply; whether we observe a vehicle for a period before issuing a ticket and the factors that we take into account in deciding whether to cancel a ticket. We publish these policies2 so that what we do is transparent and so anyone can comment on them. We recognise there will inevitably be differences of opinion about the “rights and wrongs” of individual cases. However, we want to build a general consensus about how the controls should be applied and interpreted. We would prefer not to issue any tickets and we publish leaflets to help people to understand and comply with the rules. If we do issue a ticket, and the motorist challenges it, we consider the matter in accordance with our policies and cancel any tickets that are found to have been wrongly issued or if there were extenuating circumstances. A detailed analysis of tickets issued in East Sussex is given in this report. 1 http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/localtransportplan/ltp2/downloadltp2.htm 2 Policies can be seen on the ESCC website at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/yourcouncil/about/committees/meetingpapers/cabinettransport/2008/31march.htm and www.hastings.gov.uk.parking

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Chapter 5 Civil Parking Enforcement Hastings was the first area of East Sussex to take on Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE), now known as Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE), as Police resources were diverted away from parking enforcement. This took effect within the Hastings area in May 1999. The Lewes parking scheme began operation some years later in September 2004, followed by Eastbourne in October 2008. These schemes were introduced in order to tackle growing traffic congestion and were seen as a key element of the regeneration strategy for each town, managing parking and traffic movements more effectively in support of local businesses, the local economy and the community. Hastings Borough Council undertakes on-street parking enforcement on behalf of East Sussex County Council through a ‘Parking Management Agreement’. In Eastbourne, East Sussex County Council committed to review the scheme once it had been operating for around a year. The review began early in 2010, and WSP-PB, a specialist transport consultancy, was commissioned to undertake the review, which has just been completed. In September 2009, the enforcement contract with NSL Services Group relating to Lewes was extended for further two years until September 2011. At the time of drafting this report we are finalising the details for a review of parking in Lewes town centre and surrounding villages; to gauge how the scheme has developed, and our options to establish the best method of delivering high quality parking enforcement when the current contract comes to an end.

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Chapter 5

Table 1 The table below shows a comparison of the parking schemes in Eastbourne Borough, Hastings Borough and Lewes District (which includes Lewes, Newhaven and Seaford).

Scale of whole operation Eastbourne Borough

Hastings Borough

Lewes District

Length of yellow lines (approximate miles) 37 57.5 29.6 Number of controlled parking spaces: Free On-street time-limited bays 1 286 2656 6208 HBC / LDC car parks - 40 1052 TOTAL Free 286 2696 7260 Charged (including permit) On-street bays 2 2012 1262 2154 ESCC car parks – County Hall - - 393 HBC / LDC car parks - 2063 1243 TOTAL Charged 2012 4853 3790

Civil Enforcement Officers (full-time equivalent) 12 17 16

Notice Processing staff (full-time equivalent) 5 4.5 4 Back office staff (full time equivalent) 4 4 5

1 There are a high number of on-street time-limited bays in Lewes District – many of them are situated in the coastal towns of Newhaven and Seaford. 2 A full breakdown of these bays is shown in Table 2.

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Chapter 5 The second table shows the scale of controlled parking zones across the three schemes. Table 2

On-street parking spaces: Eastbourne Hastings Lewes

Free (time-limited) - 1 1445 2 8 Pay-and-display 467 372 54 Permit-only 265 890 922 Shared (permit and pay-and-display) 1280 - 1178 Disabled 65 124 19 TOTAL 2077 2960 2181 Permit issue: Resident permits issued 1568 2344 1894 Business permits issued 348 2 30 Resident Visitor Permits issued 32505 27806 43827 Hotel Permits issued 49972 n/a 930 Trade permits issued 11155 740 3688 PCT / healthcare permits issued 13320 308 3 8650 Items of correspondence received 9725 7644 14292 Number of bays suspended 239 473 1321

Please note that in some cases, individual bays are not marked and the number of spaces is estimated. The table excludes spaces in privately owned public off street car parks. 1 Free time-limited bays will be considered for Eastbourne following the recent parking review in the town. 2 These represent the two-hour free parking bays within the shared resident zones. 3 All permits in Hastings are annual

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Chapter 6

Operational and Financial Information The financial climate has seen reductions in parking payments, not only in East Sussex, but nationally. Throughout the recession we have seen a decrease in the number of customers using pay and display facilities across the whole of the county. Two of the three parking schemes made a surplus this year with Lewes making a small operating loss. In Eastbourne the income for the parking scheme was more than the expenditure, however, we have yet to pay back the start up costs (£820,000), which we plan to phase equally (£410,000) in 2010/11 and 2011/12. For Lewes, Eastbourne and Hastings we have successfully worked with NSL Services and Hastings Borough Council to reduce the running costs of the contracts and parking schemes. Tables 3, 4 and 5 below show the net operating surplus or deficit in 2009/10, expenditure incurred against these amounts and commitments that already exist for 2010/11. As mentioned above, we plan to re-coup 50% of the set up costs of the Eastbourne scheme in 2010/11 and are anticipating that this will be possible from the surplus derived within that year.

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Table 3 Eastbourne Hastings Lewes Expenditure: £ £ £ Management, Notice Processing, parking shop and admin support

710,163 328,607 755,696

Enforcement Services 381,061 398,322 520,228 Payments to Other Local Authorities/corporate recharges

0 234,220 173,725

Operational expenditure 254,453 279,099 195,830 Total Expenditure 1,343,677 1,240,248 1,645,479 Income: Payments from other Local Authorities 0 0 380,910 On-Street Charges 1,291,645 667,288 416,084 Penalty Charges (on street) 554,344 475,000 567,401 Permits 166,555 182,000 237,169 Other 6,809 1,500 23,336 Total Income 2,019,353 1,325,788 1,624,900

Operating Surplus / Deficit 675,676 85,540 -20,579

Table 4 Less Payments / Investments: RT bus information running costs 138,278 Eastbourne Parking Review expenditure in 2009/10 48,723

Temporary transfer to fund Integrated Transport Schemes (to be repaid in 2010/11)

100,000

Support for bus services (no further plans to subsidise services from 2010/11)

96,679 77,899 25,079

Other running costs pre-CPE 63,585 NET SURPLUS / DEFICIT 228,411 7,641 -45,658

Table 5 Commitments in 2010/11: Parking Review Costs 172,277 73,462 Implementation of recommendations from Parking Review 100,000

Repayment of temporary transfer in 2009/10 -100,000

AVAILABLE FOR INVESTMENT 56,134 7,641 -119,120

Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

Off-street parking (car parks) Off-street car parking in Eastbourne and Hastings is operated by the borough councils. Most off-street car parks in Lewes District are the responsibility of Lewes District Council (LDC), who operate pay and display car parking at 18 car parks. LDC also operate one season-ticket-only car park in Seaford and 19 other off street car parks within the district, which are free of charge. In addition to the car parks the Council operates a pay upon exit multi storey car park at Newhaven. Although the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 sets out strict criteria governing the way in which any surplus arising from on-street parking can be spent, the net surplus produced from off-street car parking can be used for specific and general purposes. The cost of resurfacing car parks, replacing parking machines and provision of new parking spaces are examples of specific uses. Using the surplus to contribute towards the overall cost of council services, such as Concessionary Fares, Recreational and Environmental Services, are examples of a more general use. Councils have a responsibility to their local taxpayers to obtain a return from the use of all Council assets, including car parks.

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Chapter 7

Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) and Notice Processing East Sussex County Council employs a contractor, NSL Services, to enforce the parking restrictions in Lewes District and Eastbourne. NSL is required to work to the Council’s policy, which is intended to achieve efficient and fair use of the often limited space that is available for parking. Hastings Borough Council manages both off and on-street parking using its own staff. The Parking Policy requires Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) to patrol not only the roads (on-street) but also the Lewes District Council and Hastings Borough Council car parks (off-street) and the County Hall car parks, in Lewes, where charging is also in place. Both on and off-street parking controls are patrolled on a regular basis each day. There are two different charges for PCNs depending on the severity of the contravention. A PCN issued for a serious parking infringement is £70.00 and for a lesser infringement is £50.00. Both of these charges are discounted by 50% if they are paid within 14 days of the date they were issued. When a PCN is issued there is an opportunity for the driver of the vehicle to submit a challenge against the PCN. This must be in writing and sent or emailed to the address shown on the PCN. The Notice Processing Team deal with challenges against the issue of PCNs and if necessary undertakes debt recovery action when a PCN remains unsuccessfully challenged or unpaid. When a challenge is received it will be fully investigated by a member of the team, who will take into account the circumstances described within the challenge and the evidence documented by the CEO, at the time of the contravention. Photographic evidence will also be taken into account, where available. The following tables show the number of PCNs issued during 2009 – 2010 and the outcome of those notices.

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Table 6 below shows the number of PCNs issued in Eastbourne, Hastings and Lewes District. The figures are shown by each month and are further separated between on-street and off-street. Table 6

Hastings Borough Lewes District Month Eastbourne

Borough On Street

Off Street

On Street

County Hall

Lewes District

car parks

April 1834 1520 477 1470 128 749 May 2153 1529 457 1229 75 722 June 1979 1381 435 1378 91 786 July 2203 1493 496 1019 53 631

August 2229 1552 516 1032 59 662 September 1898 1510 424 1220 117 922

October 1975 1771 362 645 51 500 November 1650 1764 311 1134 93 810 December 1468 1377 262 948 79 574 January 1340 1266 206 920 69 417 February 1563 1462 278 1059 71 627

March 1790 1524 379 1109 109 691 Total 22082 1 18149 4603 13163 995 8091

Chapter 7

1 The number of Penalty Charge Notices issued is often high when a new scheme begins operating and will usually start to decrease in subsequent years as people become more familiar with it. Between April and October 2009 14,271 PCNs were issued in Eastbourne. In the same period of 2010 the number of PCNs reduced to 10,901– a decrease of 24%. Table 7 below shows the number of PCNs issued for each type of parking contravention. Table 7

Code Contravention Eastbourne Borough

Hastings Borough

Lewes District

1 Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours 4250 3911 3632

2 Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading

restrictions are in force 1473 716 217

5 Parked after the expiry of paid-for time 1054 2359 628

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6 No valid ticket 3475 3100 741

7 Parked with payment made to extend the stay beyond initial time 0 0 1

12 Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay-and-display ticket or permit 2649 2490 1588

16 Parked in a permit space without displaying a valid permit 2166* 318 2095*

19 Displaying an invalid permit 2482 483 1312

21 Parked in a suspended bay/space or part of bay/space 143 2 333

22 Re-parked in the same parking place within the no return period 2 29 6

23 Parked in a parking place or area not designated for that class of vehicle 211 683 21

24 Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space 8 51 215

25 Parked in a loading place during restricted hours without loading 1889 312 255

26 Parked 50cm or more from the kerb 68 0 7

30 Parked longer than permitted 741 2130 1244

40 Parked in a designated disabled person's parking place without clearly displaying a

valid disabled person’s badge 625 471 165

42 Parked in a Police space 9 12 0

45 Parked on a taxi rank 374** 17 177

47 Stopped on a restricted bus stop/stand 414 510 261

48 Parked on a school keep clear 6 84 17

55 Commercial overnight 2 0 0

56 Commercial restricted 1 0 0

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61 HGV parked on footway/verge 0 1 0

62 Parked on a footway / verge 0 362 0

80 Overstayed paid-for time (car park) 0 0 255

81 Parked in a restricted area (car park) 0 0 142

82 Expired pay-and-display ticket (car park) 0 1472 3482

83 No pay-and-display ticket (car park) 0 2707 4167

84 Meter feeding (car park) 0 0 8

85 No permit (car park) 0 64 597

86 Out-of-bay (car park) 0 28 383

87 Parked in a disabled bay without clearly

displaying a valid disabled person’s badge (car park)

0 327 211

90 Re-parked in car park within 1 hour 0 0 1

91 Area not designated for class of vehicle 0 5 3

92 Causing obstruction 0 0 15

95 Parking for other purpose than designated 0 0 47

99 Parked on a pedestrian crossing 40 108 23

Total 22082 22752 22249 * Contravention code 16 - Lewes and Eastbourne is high compared with Hastings due to the difference in the number of permit and shared use bays. See table 2 **Contravention code 45 - taxi bays. We have been using a higher level of enforcement for these bays due to complaints from taxi drivers about the misuse of the bays

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Chapter 7

Notice Processing information and statistics Tables 8 and 9 demonstrate the number of PCNs which have been challenged, paid, cancelled or remain outstanding. Table 8 – PCNs processed by outcome

Eastbourne Hastings (On Street)

Hastings (Off Street)

Lewes (On

Street)

Lewes (Off

Street) Issued 20,365 18,149 4,603 22,249

Paid:

At Discounted Rate (£25) 4716 5079 2769 2854 4756 At Discounted Rate (£35) 8443 6292 308 3387 582

At Full Rate (£50) 446 797 372 321 549 At Full Rate (£70) 831 847 17 564 51

After Charge Certificate (£75) 86 173 64 48 49 After Charge Certificate (£105) 132 149 7 76 9 After Registration (£80 / £110) 207 53 29 176 136 After warrant issued to bailiffs 34 50 20 489

TOTAL Paid 14895 13440 3586 13941 Cancelled 2958 1122 270 4392 Written-off 38 708 140 211 170

Being processed / unresolved 2,474 2929 607 3,535 Cancellation rate (cancelled as

% of issued) 15% 6% 6% 20%

Recovery rate (paid as % of non-cancelled) 86% 79% 83% 78%

Yield (paid as % of issued) 73% 74% 78% 63%

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Chapter 7

Table 9 – PCNs challenged and appealed by outcome

Eastbourne Hastings (On Street)

Hastings (Off Street)

Lewes (On

Street)

Lewes (Off

Street) Issued 20,365 18149 4,603 22,249 Challenged 5638 4861 1215 7564 (Challenged as % of issued) 28% 27% 26% 34% Of which: Upheld 3280 3727 935 3872 (Upheld as % of challenged PCNs) 58% 77% 77% 51% Cancelled 2358 1134 280 3692 (Cancelled as % of Challenged PCNs) 42% 23% 23% 49% (Cancelled as % of Issued PCNs) 12% 6% 6% 17% Appealed to Independent Adjudication 40 48 11 11 10 (Appealed as % of issued) 0.20% 0.26% 0.23% 0.05% 0.04% Of which: Dismissed (PCN upheld) 15 30 5 4 3 (Dismissed as % of appealed) 38% 63% 45% 36% 30% Withdrawn (PCN cancelled) 19 3 1 6 6 (Withdrawn as % of appealed) 48% 6% 9% 55% 60% Accepted (PCN cancelled) 6 15 5 1 1 (Accepted as % of appealed) 15% 31% 45% 9% 10%

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Chapter 8

Pay and display Civil Parking Enforcement must be self financing and to achieve this there is a requirement to charge for parking in on-street parking bays and, in some places, off-street car parks. These are known as pay and display charges. Pay and display charges provide the Council with the funds to ensure parking restrictions are complied with, and CPE provides the ability to issue a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) where they are not. The table below show the pay and display charges in Eastbourne, Hastings and Lewes District. Table 10 – Eastbourne charging structure

Length of stay CPZ (Central)

CPZ (2-hour maximum

stay)

CPZ (4-hour maximum

stay)

Seafront (maximum

stay 23 hours 55

mins) Up to 15 mins 20p 20p 20p 20p Up to 30 mins £1.00 50p 40p 40p Up to 1 hour £2.00 £1.00 £1.00 80p Up to 2 hours £3.00 £2.00 £2.00 £1.50 Up to 4 hours n/a n/a £3.00 £2.50 Up to 6 hours n/a n/a n/a £3.00

More than 6 hours n/a n/a n/a £4.00 In response to the strong level of support expressed in the recent parking review about parking in Eastbourne, which was supported by the local business community, the Lead Member for Transport and Environment recently approved a proposal to reduce on-street pay and display charges on the seafront for a trial period from 1 December 2010 to 31 March 2011. This is to support local businesses in the winter months and particularly in the period leading up to Christmas. The take-up and use of the scheme will be monitored during the trial to provide information for further consultation about possible permanent changes to the seafront controls to be introduced later in 2011.

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Chapter 8

Table 11 – Hastings charging structure Charging Period 9am to 6pm on all days

Central tariff Outlying tariff

Low tariff Charging period

(2-hour maximum stay)

(4-hour maximum stay)

(4-hour maximum stay)

Minimum period 20 min 50p per 20 mins

10p per 20 min

Minimum period 30 min 60p per 30 mins

50p per 30 mins

30p per 30 min

Minimum period 30 min 50p per 30 mins (part of central zone)

Table 12 - Lewes charging structure

Charging zone High Street

& commercial

Intermediate Outer

Charge £0.50 per 15 minutes

£0.30 per 30 minutes

£0.30 / £1.50 per

60 minutes / 1 day

Maximum stay 2 hours Unlimited Unlimited No return within 2 hours N/a N/a

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Chapter 9

Correspondence, complaints and Freedom of Information requests East Sussex County Council’s Parking Management Services team receives a large volume of enquiries, varying in nature and subject. During 2009 – 2010, in addition to the 13,202 challenges received, the team also received 552 items of correspondence about more general parking issues, not necessarily related to PCNs. Of those 552 items of correspondence there were 8 complaints. The team also received 215 expressions of thanks and compliments. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010, the team received 33 Freedom of Information requests. Parking is part of the Transport and Environment department, which received a total of 225 Freedom of Information requests during the same period. The parking team has been making improvements to the quality of customer service provided, most notably in the standard of the letters produced by the team. The aim is to remove as much jargon as possible from correspondence, and to adopt a more customer focused approach, including the use of plain English. This work will continue into next year and you will continue to see improvements. In Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough, changes to the notices on pay and display machines were made towards the end of the financial year and the labels have been awarded a crystal mark, the plain English campaign’s seal of approval. The new labels will be appearing on the machines in Lewes and Eastbourne by the early part of 2011. During 2009 – 2010 Hastings Parking Services received 6076 letters of challenge to PCNs issued and a further 1568 letters about other matters. More than 95% of these items were responded to within the 10 working day response target. Telephone enquiries amounted to 11,640, and 15,473 customers were served in the parking shop. Very few formal complaints have been received since May 1999 and the Freedom of Information requests received mainly mirror those from Eastbourne and Lewes. Customer satisfaction is very important to all of us and our aim is to achieve a positive outcome both in verbal and written correspondence. Nobody likes having to pay penalty charge notices but we always strive to explain why PCNs have been issued and give advice on how to avoid getting them in the future.

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Chapter 9

Frequently asked questions include:

• How many PCNs were issued in given period of time This information is available in the annual report, usually separated by month and with an annual total.

• Do CEOs get a bonus for the number of PCNs they issue

No, our CEOs are paid on a basic salary regardless of the number of Penalty Charge Notices that they issue. There is no commission, incentive or bonus scheme related to PCNs issued.

• Details about specific PCNs Details about individual PCNs are printed on the PCN itself. If you would like further information about a Notice which has been issued to your vehicle, this can be provided if the PCN is challenged, and you ask for that particular detail or piece of information.

• Number of PCNs issued for specific contraventions Information about the PCNs issued for particular contraventions is available in the annual report.

• A copy of the cancellation policy We publish both the parking policy and the cancellation policy on our website. They can be viewed at the link below: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/parking/policies/default.htm. For information about parking or PCNs issued in Hastings please visit www.hastings.gov.uk/parking

• Will the cost of the PCN increase if I challenge the Notice? When a PCN is challenged in writing, the PCN is placed on hold until it has been fully investigated and responded to by a trained notice processing officer. The charge will not increase until after the officer has written back to you with their decision.

• How can I appeal to an independent adjudicator? If a motorist is unhappy with the response they receive to their informal challenge, they have the opportunity to make formal representations to us when they receive the Notice to Owner (NtO). The NtO form gives details of the legal grounds on which formal representations may be made. If a motorist’s formal representations are not accepted by the council who issued the PCN, the motorist has the right to appeal to an independent adjudicator at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Further information is available on their website, which can be found by using the link provided below: www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk

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Chapter 9

• Why is the cost of the PCN so much higher when the bailiffs collect it?

The use of a debt recovery agent is the final stage of the PCN process and very few PCNs ever reach this stage. The cost of the PCN which is recovered by the bailiff will be either £80 or £110 depending on the reason the PCN was issued; however, additional charges are applied by the bailiff which will make the total payment required considerably higher than the actual cost of the PCN.

• If I have a blue badge am I exempt from parking restrictions? No. Different rules for blue badge holders apply in different towns throughout the county and the country. The best way to be sure about where you can park is to visit the website of the place you intend to visit to find out where you can and cannot park. You can find information about where you can park in East Sussex on our website: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/parking or for Hastings: www.hastings.gov.uk/parking

• Why do scratch card permits need to have the car registration on them? The vehicle registration number is required to prevent the misuse of these parking permits. This is standard practice amongst many parking operations throughout the country. To correctly validate the permit please ensure the vehicle registration is written in ink in the box provided, and the corresponding day, date and month are scratched off before displaying the permit clearly in the window.

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Chapter 10

The Penalty Charge Notice process 1. The Penalty Charge The Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is usually payable by the owner of the vehicle, except if the vehicle was hired at the time of the contravention. The legislation gives the owner the right to make a representation against the Notice to Owner. They also have the right to appeal to an independent adjudicator if dissatisfied with the authority’s decision to reject a representation. If an owner has not made a representation or appeal, or they have made one but it was rejected, and they have still not paid the PCN, the authority may issue a Charge Certificate. This means that the penalty charge is recoverable through the Traffic Enforcement Centre as a civil debt due to the authority. This is enforceable through a streamlined version of the normal civil debt recovery process. Each enforcement authority outside of London must set its own level of penalty charges. The level of those charges must follow the guidelines set out in the schedule of the guidelines on Levels of Charges Order. 2. Differential Penalty Charges The Secretary of State for Transport agreed that authorities outside of London must set two levels of penalty charges with the higher level applying to the more serious contraventions. For example parking in a place where it is always prohibited, such as on double yellow lines, or in a disabled bay without displaying a valid badge is considered more serious than overstaying where parking is permitted, for example in a parking place. There is a perceived unfairness of receiving the same penalty regardless of the seriousness of the contravention. For this reason, and in order to emphasise the traffic management purposes of civil parking enforcement, authorities must apply different parking penalties to different contraventions. The Council has adopted the following differential charges;

• The higher penalty is £70.00 (reduced to £35.00 if paid within 14 days).

• The lower penalty is £50.00 (reduced to £25.00 if paid within 14 days). 3. Challenges, Representations and Appeals When a Penalty Charge Notice is issued it will either state that £70.00 (higher band) or £50.00 (lower band) is due for payment within 28 days from the date of issue of the Notice. The Traffic Management Act 2004 specifies that a 50% discount may be deducted if it is paid within 14 days of the date of issue.

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Chapter 10 In common with other authorities, when we receive first line enquiries or challenges (deemed to be informal representations) within 14 days of the issue of the Notice, we will put the Notice on hold. When replying to the enquiry, if we consider there are insufficient grounds for cancellation of the Notice, we will re-offer the 50% discount for payment within 14 days of our response. If the Notice is paid within the timescale request, then it will obviously be closed. Where payment has not been received within 28 days or, no payment has been received after the enquiry has been dealt with, then the Council via an electronic link to the DVLA will request details of the registered keeper of the vehicle. The Council will then send a Notice to Owner which will ask the registered keeper to make payment of the outstanding balance of the relevant charge OR make a formal representation. This document provides details of the Notice number, when it was issued, the vehicle registration number, and what the contravention was and the time and location it was issued. The grounds for making representations are:

• the contravention did not occur • the penalty exceeded the relevant amount • the traffic order was invalid • I was not the owner/keeper at the time of the contravention • the vehicle had been taken without the owner’s consent • the owner is a hire company and can provide evidence of the hirer

having signed to accept responsibility for contraventions during the hire period.

• the penalty charge has already been paid • any other information or mitigating circumstances that the registered

keeper wishes to be taken into consideration • there has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement

authority After the Notice to Owner has been sent, the registered keeper/owner has 28 days to make representations or payment. If a representation is received, we will consider it, and if again we decide there are no grounds for cancellation, we will send a Notice of Rejection. This allows the registered keeper to; 1. Take their representation to an independent tribunal and have their appeal

heard either in person, by post, or a telephone hearing at a venue of their choice, or;

2. Pay the Penalty Charge Notice.

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Chapter 10 The decision of the adjudicator (working for the Traffic Penalty Tribunal) is final and binding both on the person making the appeal and the Council. Adjudicator’s decisions should be based on points of law, and not mitigating circumstance. However, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal expectation is that any mitigating circumstances should be taken into account at the representation stage by the Council. Should the Adjudicator find in favour of the motorist the Notice will be cancelled. Should the Adjudicator find in favour of the Council the motorist is liable for the full charge of either £50.00 or £70.00. If at this stage the motorist has failed to; 1. Make payment of the full charge, or,

2. Make representations to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, or,

3. Pay the charge after the Adjudicator has rejected their appeal Then the original amount of the Penalty Charge Notice of either £50.00 or £70.00 will increase by 50% to either £75.00 or £105.00 and a Charge Certificate will be sent requiring payment within 14 days of its date. Unless payment is received the Notice will continue to progress, incurring additional charges. The next stage is for the Council to register the debt in a county court. All local authorities operating under Civil Parking Enforcement use the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court. The court charges £5.00 per Notice to register the debt and a Notice of Unpaid Penalty Charges will be sent to the registered owner/keeper informing the motorist that; 1. Within a further 21 days from receipt of the order, they must make payment of

either £80.00 or £110.00 or; 2. Send to the Traffic Enforcement Centre a Witness Statement (formerly a

Statutory Declaration) to refute the need to pay the penalty charge and that the registration of the unpaid penalty charge should be revoked.

The Witness Statement can be made on the following grounds:

• they did not receive the Notice to Owner in question • they made representations to the enforcement authority about the penalty

charge and did not receive a rejection • they appealed to the parking adjudicator against the enforcement

authority’s decision to reject his/her representation but either received no response to the appeal; the appeal had not been determined by the time that Charge Certificate had been served; or the appeal was determined in his/her favour; or

• they have paid in full the penalty charge to which the Charge Certificate relates.

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Chapter 10

A valid witness statement automatically revokes the order for the recovery of the unpaid penalty charge and the Charge Certificate. Where the motorist has declared that they did not receive the Notice to Owner to which the Charge Certificate relates, the Notice to Owner is also deemed to have been cancelled. If the motorist claims that they did not receive the Notice to Owner it is advisable that the enforcement authority serves a second Notice to Owner. If the motorist claims that they have paid the penalty charge or made representations to the Council about the penalty charge and did not receive a rejection letter, the Council must refer the case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal who may give such direction as they consider appropriate. If the motorist claims that they have appealed to the parking adjudicator against the Council’s decision to reject the representation but received no response to the appeal the Council must refer the case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal who may give such direction as they consider appropriate. Where the motorist has been served with an order of recovery of the unpaid penalty charge and fails to pay the penalty charge or to complete the witness statement, the authority can ask the Traffic Enforcement Centre for authority to prepare a Warrant of Execution. This authorises a certificated bailiff to seize and sell goods belonging to the motorist to the value of the outstanding amount plus the cost of executing the warrant.

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Chapter 11

The future Eastbourne At the time this report was produced the Eastbourne parking review had begun. In the year following this annual report the review of parking should be completed and any changes that have been identified will be implemented and monitored. A pilot scheme called ‘Hand in and collect’ will begin in November 2010. This will see us working in partnership with the Blue Badge Team to allow blue badge holders to collect their renewed permits from the Parking Information Centre in Gildredge Road. It is hoped that the pilot scheme will reduce the number of permits that go astray in the post, and it will provide the opportunity for expired blue badges to be returned. If the pilot scheme is successful we will look to expand this procedure across the county. Hastings A new resident parking scheme will commence on 1 November 2010 to address a long standing problem for the residents of the Southwater area in St Leonards. To reduce the number of commuters and office workers parking outside residential properties all day, the scheme restricts parking to allow resident permit holders only from 11am to 1pm, Monday to Friday. Alternative pay and display parking is being introduced in the road adjacent to Warrior Square station at £2.00 per day or for short periods of up to two hours, at 10p per hour, in order to accommodate shoppers and visitors to the area. Lewes A review of parking in the Lewes District is scheduled to get underway in November 2010, and should be completed by the end of March 2011. The review will begin in the town of Lewes, followed by the surrounding villages. The review will be looking at areas where improvements can be made to existing parking controls, if new restrictions are desired and, it will involve consultation with residents and businesses throughout the district. The Parking Enforcement Contract with NSL Services will come to an end in September 2011. In the year leading up to that we will begin the process of setting up a new contract, ensuring that the Council achieves the best value.

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Chapter 12

Thank you for taking the time to read our annual parking report for 2009 – 2010. If you would like any further information about parking in East Sussex please visit our website www.eastsussex.gov.uk/parking or visit Hastings website www.hastings.gov.uk/parking/default.aspx. Alternatively you can contact us using any of the methods listed below. For information about purchasing permits, general parking enquiries or to ask for specific parking information for the local area: Eastbourne: Parking Information Centre 55 Gildredge Road Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 4QW Telephone 08456 801129 Email eastbournepic@nslservices.co.uk

Hastings: Aquila House Breeds Place Hastings East Sussex TN34 3UY Telephone 01424 451070 Email parking@hastings.gov.uk

Lewes: Parking Shop 29 High Street Lewes East Sussex BN7 2LU Telephone 08456 801129 Email: lewespic@eastsussex.gov.uk To challenge or appeal a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), please send correspondence to the appropriate address shown above and remember to include the PCN number, your vehicle registration and a contact name and address. PCN numbers which start with EU should be sent to the Eastbourne address, numbers starting HS (off-street) or ZH (on-street) should be sent to Hastings and LW numbers should be sent to the Lewes. If you would prefer to submit a challenge by email please send challenges about Eastbourne or Lewes PCNs to parkingpenalties@eastsussex.gov.uk . To challenge a PCN issued in Hastings please login to their website using the link below https://www.hastings.gov.uk/parking_gateway/login.aspx .