Manchester City Council is launching a new parking enforcement operation against motorists who repeatedly evade parking tickets.
The council’s parking services contractor, NSL, is set to start clamping vehicles found parked illegally if they are already subject to three or more unpaid penalty charge notices and if the owner has previously ignored all attempts to contact them.
As well as deterring repeat evaders, the policy aims to catch out motorists who are driving unregistered cars and cannot otherwise be traced, or untaxed vehicles.
Drivers whose cars are clamped will be faced with a £40 release fee, on top of a parking ticket for the offence which prompted the enforcement action. Clamped cars will be towed away if the owner does not contact the council within 24 hours. Any surplus income from parking charges and fines is spent on highways and environmental improvements, in accordance with legislation.
The new policy will take effect on Thursday 1 December.
Executive Member for the Environment, Councillor Rosa Battle, said: “This is a simple, efficient way to catch the small minority of drivers who believe that the law does not apply to them. It will help to prevent people with unregistered cars from getting away with persistently driving illegally in our neighbourhoods – reducing the nuisance and inconvenience they cause to the vast majority of law-abiding drivers.”
Andy White, Client Account Manager at NSL, said: “There is absolutely no excuse for those persistent evaders who repeatedly flout regulations, park irresponsibly and refuse to pay penalty charges. With the help of Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera technology, I believe our new clampdown will successfully identify these individuals, who not only create inconvenience and frustration, but can often cause potentially dangerous obstructions for the emergency services and other road users.”
