'Town would be a nightmare without parking wardens'

Nikki Phelan, a civil enforcement officer with Ipswich Borough Council, says parking wardens are like "marmite"

A parking warden has said roads in Ipswich would become a "nightmare" and "you wouldn't be able to travel" if drivers were not punished for flouting the rules.

Data seen by the BBC shows Ipswich Borough Council issued about 100 parking fines a day – or 3,200 per month - on average between January and June this year.

During the same period ten years ago, however, enforcement officers handed out an average of 46 penalties each day – or 1,400 each month.

Nikki Phelan, 52, a civil enforcement officer with Ipswich Borough Council, said: “There’s a small minority who do not follow the rules and really do not care.”

Paul Chamberlain, 67, says drivers who have a flagrant disregard for parking rules "annoy" him

The revenue from fines goes to the council and so far this year 11,782 parking fines have been paid, amounting to more than £64,000.

In the first six months of 2014, meanwhile, the authority recouped roughly £40,000 from penalty charge notices being paid.

Paul Chamberlain, 67, from Ipswich, said he is reassured by the extra lengths the council seems to be going to in order to eradicate illegally parked vehicles.

He said: “When I started working a colleague of mine figured out that it was actually cheaper for him to park illegally than it was to pay to regularly go to a car park.

“It may well be that other people are still doing that but I’m encouraged by the fact the wardens are seemingly clamping down on illegal parking."

He added: “It always annoys me that people think they are too important to pay and just park where they want to – they are depriving the community of money.

“It’s not as though there’s no spaces in car parks – I’ve just come from one which was virtually 85% empty.”

David Mann, 51, worries parking could become an issue when the new football season gets underway

David Mann, 51, from Ipswich, agrees, and said claiming there is a lack of places to park in the borough is not an excuse for parking illegally.

“You can’t just park anywhere and parking on a double yellow line is a crime, even I know that and I don’t drive,” he said.

“If you are going to park on a double yellow line you have to expect to be punished. You might be too rich to care but you need to pay your bills.

“It’s going to get worse now with [Ipswich Town being in the Premier League] – it’s going to be hell here.”

Ms Phelan said in terms of her role as a parking warden “people either love us or hate us, like marmite, but the large majority really love to see us”.

She also explained why the number of fines had increased.

“It can be down to the fact we now have more officers covering the streets, the population has increased, and there’s more people with cars," she said.

“There’s people who know they have absolutely no intention of paying for parking but a lot of people recognise you have to follow the rules.

“If we were not around the roads would be a nightmare and you wouldn’t be able to travel.”

A parking fine on a car found illegally parked in Ipswich

Councillor Jane Riley is Ipswich Borough Council's portfolio holder for Culture and Customers.

She said: “A good civil parking enforcement regime is one the public understands and which is enforced fairly, accurately and speedily.

"We make no apology for the increase in PCNs issued as this a direct reflection of the attitude some road users have to the restrictions in place.

"We would be pleased to see the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued reduce as that would show there has been an improvement in compliance with the traffic restrictions in place by road users.

"One of the reasons for increases in the number of PCNs issued may be that we have made it easier for the public to report parking issues to us online, from which our enforcement officers are able to immediately react to improve safety in real time.

"There is an adequate supply of on-street and off-street parking bays in Ipswich and we would urge road users to think before they park and if they only park where they should then all Ipswich road users will see the benefit.”