Foreign drivers who dodge parking fines owe council £500,000

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that in 2015, a total of 4,835 tickets issued to foreign drivers were either unpaid, cancelled or written off at a cost to the council of £294,850.

The figures are slightly better for 2016, with 3,911 tickets issued either unpaid, cancelled or written off at a cost of £240,672 to the local authority.

The city council has defended the figures, saying that only around five per cent of tickets issued go to foreign drivers.

It also said the Department for Transport had stated that chasing foreign vehicles would need an “international treaty” but there were no plans to introduce one.

But a driver who fell foul of the council’s strict parking regime has attacked the policy.

Steve Waters, 52, a construction worker from Saltdean, returned from volunteering for Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Boundaries) in 2015 to find his car had been sold by bailiffs over two unpaid parking tickets.

He said: “The council is a disgrace and the way I was treated by taking my property over something as small as two parking tickets is ridiculous.

“The council should get back money owed from foreign drivers.

“Maybe then it would allow people like me to be treated fairly rather than so harshly because of a relatively small amount of fines.”

A city council spokesman said: “Four years ago the council engaged the services of a specialist debt recovery company to chase penalty charge notices issued to foreign drivers at their home address abroad.

“The recovery rate for foreign vehicles is still much lower than for notices issued to domestic vehicles with around one third fully paid by the driver of the foreign registered vehicle.

“Like all local authorities we have to write off some fines when it would cost more to chase the fines than we would get back.

“To do otherwise would not be best use of taxpayers’ money

“This is a national issue that crops up with cars registered overseas, where the owners’ details are not held by the DVLA.”

Nationally town halls are chasing payment for more than 500,000 fines given to overseas drivers in the last three years.

Among the other local authorities facing the same problem is Westminster Council which has torn up £2.5 million in fines since 2015.

Also in London, Ealing and Haringey councils are owed almost £1 million each.

Birmingham and Manchester local authorities are each chasing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Martin Tett, of the Local Government Association, described it as “hugely unfair” on British drivers who have to pay if they receive a parking ticket.

EU rules give non-UK vehicles six months on our roads before they have to register with the DVLA.

Brighton and Hove has some of the highest parking charges in the country.

A report in December found the city had made the most parking revenue from motorists of any council in England outside the capital.

THEY TOOK MY CAR AND SOLD IT BECAUSE OF TWO FINES

MOTORISTS have criticised the council for unfair parking fine policies as foreign drivers get away without paying.

Councils across the country are losing vast amounts of money in parking fines unpaid by foreign drivers.

Brighton and Hove City Council has revealed it is losing hundreds of thousands of pounds a year specifically from foreign drivers who are not being made to pay once they leave the UK.

Local authorities seem to have little hope of recovering the cash as there is no mechanism in place to allow culprits to be caught.

EU rules give non-UK vehicles six months on Britain’s roads before they have to register with the DVLA.

Martin Tett, of the Local Government Association, said it was “hugely unfair” on British drivers who have to pay up if they break the law.

He said the money from the lost fines could be spent fixing roads and carrying out other vital roadworks.

Madeira Drive is the highest grossing road in the city, with each of its 363 parking spaces averaging more than £500 in parking tickets every year.

The money owed by foreign drivers has angered the city’s motorists not least Steve Waters, 54, a construction worker, from Saltdean.

He returned from volunteering for Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Boundaries) in 2015 to find his car had been sold by bailiffs over two unpaid parking tickets which had been issued while he was away.

Mr Waters said: “The council does not use parking fines as a way of keeping the roads clear but rather just as a way to make profit.

“I had left the country and they just took my car away because of the two fines and sold it on.

“They should get back money they are owed from foreign drivers and maybe then it would allow people like me to be treated fairly rather than so harshly because of a relatively small amount of fines.”

In 2015, the company that collected cash from parking machines around Brighton and Hove went bust owing the local authority £3.2 million.

An audit report to councillors said at one point Coin Co International (CCI) owed more than £4.7 million.

This debt, as well as money lost by the council due to parking fines for foreign drivers, has added to the strain on the budget.

The Department for Transport said chasing foreign vehicles would need an “international treaty” but there were no plans to introduce one to combat the problem.

A city council spokesman said: “The number of penalty charge notices issued to foreign vehicles has remained stable at around 6,000 per year or around five per cent of all parking fines.

“Four years ago the council engaged the services of a specialist debt recovery company to chase penalty charge notices issued to foreign drivers at their home address abroad.”

But the recovery rate for foreign vehicles is still much lower than for those registered in the uk.

The council said it has to write off some fines as it costs more to pursue the drivers than it is worth.

‘THERE’S A SIMPLE SOLUTION’

MOTORING lobbyist Steve Percy has regularly opposed the council on its inability to reclaim parking fines from foreign drivers.

Mr Percy, founder of the People’s Parking Protest group, said: “If I go abroad and I don’t pay parking fines, they won’t let me on the aircraft to come home.

“The time it takes to register an offence plays a big part in the council’s lack of success in collecting these fines.

“If a car’s registration number is stored on the council’s website once a fine has been given, then that vehicle should be marked and watched by the authorities.

“When you think about it, a car usually has to go on a ferry to leave the country.

“The solution to this is very simple: the council should invest in software that allows number plate recognition to track down a vehicle and therefore the owner of a car who owes money for parking fines is stopped before they leave the country.

“The money the council would make back using this method would surely boost the amount of money they actually receive from fines in the long run.

“My group and the members of public who are a part of the group are constantly trying to sort out this problem as well as the wider issue of parking in the city and it seems that as always, the council needs a push to get things sorted.

“We have dedicated a lot of time to solving problems to do with parking in the city and it would be great to see the council do the same and help us to find a way of getting people to pay up their fines before they leave the country.”

Brighton and Hove City Council issued more than 123,500 tickets in the last full financial year.

The percentage of penalty notices successfully challenged in 2015/16 stood at more than 18 per cent – an increase on the 15 per cent of fines in the two previous years. The cost of penalty notice administration, debt recovery and maintenance has also increased to more than £3 million.