Nottingham: Parking ticket anger amid on-street permit delays

Residents on the street have called the situation "ridiculous"

A delay in permits being issued for parking on a Nottingham street has led to people being wrongly fined, residents have claimed.

Nottingham City Council has introduced paid permits for people parking cars in Ebers Road, Carrington.

Residents said they had faced delays of up to four weeks since purchasing the document online.

The council said the reason for the delay was due to issues with its permit processing system.

Lucy Brine, who lives on the street, said she ordered her paid permit on 21 March - 11 days before the deadline, but had not received it a month later.

Changes to the parking permit rules were made last year, when a £35 charge was introduced for residents in their second year of having a permit.

The parking permit rules were changed in June last year

A first year permit is free.

"It's ridiculous," said the 46-year-old. "The traffic wardens are here that often, they should be paying council tax. We don't know what to do."

She said appeals made to the council had been "instantly rejected", and that no-one from the council had been available to discuss the status of the overdue permits.

Ms Brine added: "A lot of people don't have driveways here so they have to park on the street. The council are sending out wardens to ticket everybody.

"Even if they have an expired permit displayed, it doesn't make any difference."

Hazel McDonald, 49, said she had received a parking ticket despite having waited four weeks for her permit to be issued.

Residents said some of them had received multiple parking tickets

"I'm not sure how it's ever going to be resolved," she said. "The system isn't working and as residents, we don't feel like we have a right of reply.

"We have nowhere to go to express our worries and frustrations."

Jo Solomon, 57, called the ordeal an "injustice". She added: "There's just a feeling of frustration and perhaps some cynicism at this point."

The city council said it was confident the technical issues its system had encountered "have now been resolved".

The cost of parking permits increases to £50 for residents in the third year.

A spokesperson said: "Charging in this street was introduced last summer and all residents are sent a reminder six weeks before their permit runs out to make sure they have plenty of time to renew before it expires.

"There have been some issues recently with the permit-processing system and wider capacity issues within the council department which handles applications, so there is currently a two to three-week turnaround time.

"This is a little longer than usual but we're confident the technical issues have now been resolved."