Council issues 900 parking fines in one month

Blue badge holders say this sign in St Neots is confusing

A council that has taken over parking enforcement has issued more than 900 fines in its first month of operation.

Huntingdonshire District Council started issuing penalty charge notices (PCNs) in September, having issued warning notices during the previous month.

But some residents say one area of St Neots has confusing signs which have led to blue badge holders being fined.

The council said it was largely happy with the new scheme, but accepted there were issues that needed "working on".

The authority took on responsibility from the police for issuing fines for offences like parking on double yellow lines and in disabled bays without a blue badge.

It was already in charge of parking enforcement in council-owned car parks.

Liz Owen spent years asking the council to take on parking enforcement

Liz Owen said she had long been calling for civil parking enforcement, where local councils manage and enforce parking violations, moving them from a criminal to a civil matter.

She uses a wheelchair and had problems moving around St Neots, where she lives.

During a walkabout with the BBC Politics East, she encountered a car blocking a dropped kerb and several vehicles parked on pavements.

She was forced to move into the road.

Ms Owen was not surprised by the number of fines issued.

"Hopefully, as word gets out, it may go down - if people are obeying [the restrictions]."

In the first month, Huntingdonshire District Council said it issued 696 on-street PCNs. This was in addition to 218 off-street penalty notices.

Anne Hill received a fine after parking in a disabled bay on Market Day.

But some blue badge holders in St Neots were unhappy after getting a fine for parking in disabled bays next to the market square.

Refurbishment work was finished earlier this year, which saw disabled parking moved.

Anne Hill said a sign that explained parking was prohibited on Thursdays was confusing.

"I've seen the signs but to me it wasn't that clear," she said.

"And they are so little anyway but you think 'everyone else is parked there so it must be alright', but everyone else was wrong because they got tickets as well."

She appealed against the ticket but was told the fine still stood.

Julie Kerr, a local councillor, says civil parking enforcement will cost the authority between £50,000 and £60,000 per year

A spokeswoman for Huntingdonshire District Council said that, on the whole, it was happy with the new scheme.

Julie Kerr, an independent councillor, said "generally the feedback is really positive".

She added: "The illegal parking was so dangerous, there were times certainly in St Ives where coaches couldn't get through and got stuck and big lorries got stuck because people were parking on roundabouts."

She did, however, admit the issues around market square in St Neots needed "working on".

"We have some details to sort out with [Cambridgeshire County Council] there because they are the people who hold the rules on where parking can happen.

"We're working on it."