I have come across the following article which I thought might be of use to folk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981794/10-minute-let-avoid-parking-ticket-month-new-law-let-overstay-meter-without-fine.html

No parking fine if you overstay by just 10 minutes: New law next month will give you extra time before wardens pounce

 

Drivers are to get ten minutes extra time after a parking ticket runs out before they can be hit with a fine.

 

Under a change in the law to take effect within weeks, they will have the right to a ‘grace period’ in all on-street or off-street council parking places.

 

For decades, drivers have complained of returning to their cars moments after a ticket expires to find a prowling warden has already hit them with a penalty.

 

 

 

There's also an election very soon!

Sam

So a 60 minute ticket in effect becomes a 70 minute ticket. Doesn't solve the problem - it just moves it 10 minutes down the line.

There's also an election very soon!

 

Sam

Do I detect a cynic in there somewhere

So a 60 minute ticket in effect becomes a 70 minute ticket. Doesn't solve the problem - it just moves it 10 minutes down the line.

What's the betting they slap the ticket at 70 minutes and one second. There will still be the 'over zealous' type who will hang around just to penalise the accidental overstayer.

I do hope this will slow down the 'cash cow' mentality of some councils.

It will also put up the cost of parking for 'honest' drivers as the 10 mins free will have to be budgeted for. If its now 60p an hour for every hour the Council gets 60p, with the new system you only need to pay 50p for 50 mins and get 10 mins free giving you an hour for 50p. The Council would therefore need to make parking 70p an hour to get the same income, obviously you could gamble and pay less and hope you didn't miss the 10 min cut off.

It will also put up the cost of parking for 'honest' drivers as the 10 mins free will have to be budgeted for. If its now 60p an hour for every hour the Council gets 60p, with the new system you only need to pay 50p for 50 mins and get 10 mins free giving you an hour for 50p. The Council would therefore need to make parking 70p an hour to get the same income, obviously you could gamble and pay less and hope you didn't miss the 10 min cut off.

That is a fair point.

There is the other issue where people overpay as they don't have enough change. Most councils will just keep it.Would that not equal out the new rules?

I did read of one council that donated the excess to a charity.

It's all of dubious merit. Charities often do the same sort of work as councils anyway, providing children's services, shelter for homeless people etc. There is an argument that the council would be better off keeping it and spending it themselves - although it's debatable.

It's all of dubious merit. Charities often do the same sort of work as councils anyway, providing children's services, shelter for homeless people etc. There is an argument that the council would be better off keeping it and spending it themselves - although it's debatable.

Exactly, I never understand the allegations of 'money grabbing' Councils ripping people off. They are a non profit making organisation all the money they receive is ploughed back into the local community. Sometimes they may make some odd choices when spending the money but far less worrying to me than charities employing fund raisers on 6 figure salaries.

Free bays are also included in the scheme which is a complete nonsense if a bay is 20 mins free that's what you should get, if you give 10 mins grace it becomes 30 mins free which is not what it says on the sign. So mr Pickles thinks somehow adding ten minutes to every free bay is going to help drivers, all that will happen is drivers will just add on the ten minutes and still get caught out. Councils on the other hand who are trying to manage parking schemes and actually wish to restrict free parking to allow for picking up passengers at stations, popping in convenience stores etc will have to change all the traffic orders and signs to reduce the signed allowance by 10 minutes to allow for the 10 free extra overstay.

So a 60 minute ticket in effect becomes a 70 minute ticket. Doesn't solve the problem - it just moves it 10 minutes down the line.

Precisely. They brought this 10 minute thing in in Dublin (where the default answer to overstaying your parking ticket is a clamp) and that's what happened. The council's parking website is now plastered with "there is no grace period on the grace period" and variants on same.

They should charge £10 for an overstay, plus £1 per minute until the full charge for the PCN is reached, and that's the final cap. That would be proportionate to the contravention and not hit accidental overstayers unduly hard. A 2 minute overstay would be £10 + £2. A 20 minute overstay would be £10 + £20.