Hundreds fined in first week of parking crackdown

Huntingdonshire District Council is now responsible for parking enforcement

An authority that can now enforce penalty notices for parking infringements has issued more than 270 fines during the first week of September.

Huntingdonshire became a civil enforcement area on 28 July, allowing the district council to issue penalty charge notices for illegal parking.

More than 800 warnings were issued in the first month of being granted the new powers, Huntingdonshire District Council said.

The penalty charge notices came into effect in September, with Huntingdon receiving the most, followed by St Ives and then St Neots.

Civil enforcement has decriminalised some on-street parking offences so Huntingdonshire District Council officers can enforce them, instead of the police.

The police retain powers to enforce dangerous or obstructive parking, parking on pedestrian crossings and zig-zag lines, and traffic offences such as speeding.

The authority previously said the patrols would focus on "known areas of concern" in Huntingdonshire, initially.

In the first full week of fines being issued, 273 were handed out.

The highest number of notices were handed out on St Germain Street in Huntingdon, West Street in St Ives and Market Place in St Neots.

Enforcement in St Neots was particularly welcomed by a disability campaigner who said people had been put off from visiting the town because designated disability bays were often used by people without a blue badge.

Liz Owen said she hoped the enforcement changes would help tackle illegal and problem parking in the town centre.