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%>

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