AA demands parking fines cap as it accuses councils of using tickets to raise cash
FURIOUS motoring chiefs are demanding new laws to cap the number of parking tickets a council can issue each month, the Sun can reveal.
The AA last night accused local authorities of treating motorists like “lambs to the slaughter”.
And they said town halls were now using motoring fines and parking tickets as a way to raise money rather than encourage good behaviour.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling they urge the Tory veteran to intervene and limit the number of tickets a council can issue at car parks in their patch per month.
A spokesman said: “We’re now seeing people given huge fines simply for putting a zero into a machine instead of an ‘O’ when asked to type in their registration when buying a ticket. It has to stop.”
The AA also wants “first-time offenders” to be given a warning rather than a huge fine if they stray into a bus lane or box junction at the lights.
And they want "toxin taxes" to be stripped from resident parking permits.
The call comes at the launch of one of AA’s biggest campaigns of the past decade - to fight back against “rampant ticketing” by councils and private parking contractors.
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Figures last week showed Edinburgh City Council alone coined in £2.4million in parking fines over just three months this summer from a staggering 60,000 penalty notices.
New Forest District Council raised £77,000 from 2,888 fines.
AA President Edmund King stormed: “It is clear that some councils are enforcing the rules with a sledgehammer.
“We need to restore that balance between enforcement and deterrence, between the need for targeted fines that direct driver behaviour - and punishing every single little mistake because it’s a nice little earner for councils and private companies.”
He added: “We are asking for Government intervention to restore fairness.”
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The RAC last month revealed councils made a whopping £820million "profit" from parking fees and fines in 2016-2017 – up 10 per cent.
The Local Government Association claims the so-called parking charge surplus is spent on "essential transport projects".
But a report earlier this year claimed Britain’s road network was in such a bad state it's ranked 27th in the world – below Ecuador and Namibia.