Skip to main content

FSB responds to RAC Foundation figures on 8 million local authority parking penalties issued in UK

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has responded to a report from the RAC Foundation which showed that 8 million local authority parking penalties are issued annually across England and Wales. This figure is included in the Automated Road Traffic Enforcement: Regulation, Governance and Use - for the RAC Foundation report by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University.
October 26, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has responded to a report from the 4961 RAC Foundation which showed that 8 million local authority parking penalties are issued annually across England and Wales. This figure is included in the Automated Road Traffic Enforcement: Regulation, Governance and Use - for the RAC Foundation report by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University.

Mike Cherry, FSB, national chairman, said: “Councils are cutting their noses off to spite their faces when they try to fill revenue gaps with parking charges. They would do far more to boost local growth, and their own coffers, by taking a more generous approach to parking around local high streets.

“We know that introducing permanent short-stay free parking can provide a huge shot in the arm for town centres. Doing so attracts shoppers and new businesses alike.

“With business rates hikes, flagging consumer demand and rising input costs, our small retailers have enough to worry about without their customers being put off from visiting for fear of being hit with a parking fine.   

“Local authorities should put more time and energy into supporting the small business community and focus less on parking restrictions that damage growth in the long-term”, Cherry added.

Dr Snow’s report highlighted that up to 12 million driving license holders receive a penalty notice each year. The local authority parking penalty is part of a broadly broken down figure which also showed 2.5 million local authority bus lane and box junction penalties; 500,000 late licensing and insurance penalties and; 1 million speeding and red-light penalties.

A full copy of the report can be found %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here RAC Foundation report PDF false http://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/Automated_Road_Traffic_Enforcement_Dr_Adam_Snow_October_2017.pdf false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Lyft Green Mode option allows riders to request electric and hybrid vehicles
    February 14, 2019
    Lyft is launching a Green Mode feature within its app to provide riders in Seattle with the option to travel in an electric or hybrid vehicle. The move follows the company’s planned introduction of thousands of electric vehicles (EVs) onto its platform this year. Lyft says the deployment will allow its drivers to increase net earnings as it says the cost of travelling in an EV is half that of a petrol-powered car, therefore saving hundreds of dollars per month on fuel costs. Drivers can switch
  • Volkswagen tests Level 4 AVs in Hamburg
    April 17, 2019
    Volkswagen Research is testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) at SAE Level 4 in real driving conditions in the German city of Hamburg. The announcement comes as the fall-out from VW’s ‘Dieselgate’ nightmare – when the company was found to have programmed turbocharged direct injection diesel engines to activate their emissions controls for laboratory tests - putters on. This week the company’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn was charged with fraud for his involvement. But VW has admitted that the scan
  • Bounce back with Berry’s spring steel buffer
    March 21, 2018
    Oops! Another small knock to your car in the car park. But thanks to the new spring steel buffer from Berry, it is the barrier that yields this time and not your vehicle’s bodywork. A key feature of the buffer is its deflection – typically around 300mm, according to Berry, part of the Hill & Smith group. This means that impact forces are absorbed by the buffers rather than transmitted directly to the mounting bolts or towards deformation of the railing system. They usually require one or two 20mm bolts.
  • Mondato report says African transactions to grow
    November 3, 2014
    Person-to-business (P2B) mobile-initiated transactions across the five leading sub- Saharan African countries will grow nearly tenfold over the next five years, from $2.9 billion in 2013 to $28 billion.