Episode 2 Parking Mad

In the UK, someone gets a parking ticket every three seconds.

You can appeal against it.

I will appeal, don't worry.

I think it's disgusting.

HORN BLARES

With more cars than ever on our roads,

the battle over parking has reached boiling point.

Is there any questions you want to ask me now?

How do you sleep at night?

You people, you rob the general public.

You're absolute vermin.

Just take your heart out and just leave it at home.

With space at a premium, councils need parking controls.

We've got a board that says "car park full",

and they drive round it.

Engine's off. Door's open.

She's got a baby and can't even park outside her own bloody house.

I'm going to allow the appeal. You don't have to pay.

Oh, I feel great.

But for many, parking enforcement is a direct attack on motorists.

It's just about the money.

In my opinion, they are bloodsuckers.

You've got no compassion doing the job that you're doing.

And staff are in the firing line.

"Come back round here and we'll shoot you"

is the most common thing you'll hear up here.

If you are civilised, you will not tell somebody that "I hate you".

As they deal with...

parking madness.

You might as well just stand here and nick it off of people.

When I say I hate them, I mean I hate them.

There's so little free parking left in Britain's towns and cities,

any streets that don't have restrictions become a battle ground.

You can't park anywhere.

I just live there

and it's like it all the way up and down the road every day.

Six o'clock in the morning they come, they slam the doors, the boot,

and they don't care about anybody.

And this is the police that are causing this problem?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

18 months ago, a new police station opened in West Bromwich.

400 people work there, but there's only parking for visitors

and senior members of staff.

So officers park in the surrounding streets instead.

The police said they can park how they like,

as long as they leave enough room for a trolley.

SIREN WAILS Go on! Yay!

How about that?

-Did you see that?

-I did.

Literally madness round here.

-It causes arguments as well, you know.

-It ain't made us very happy.

When you've got somebody that works late, like my husband,

and he comes in and there's nowhere to park.

Joan and Alan have lived in the area for 28 years.

-It used to be a nice place to live. It's exhausting.

-It pulls you down.

It drags you down.

It makes you feel as if you don't want to live here.

No, I've been talking to the wife about selling my house

and moving elsewhere.

The police are not doing anything illegal by parking in the area,

but that doesn't help the residents.

Keeping the residents happy in this dispute

is the job of Sandwell Council's parking manager, Kira Fleck.

It is like when you have young children,

that's the only analogy I can use.

You draw boundaries with them, you tell them what they can do,

they can't do, and everybody then exists in harmony in a family.

She's invited locals to a meeting to gauge opinion

on a residents' parking scheme.

Kira from Sandwell Council. Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable.

-It's all right, I'll stand.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

If you sit down, you fall asleep - they might think I'm dead.

Hello. My name is Kira, I'm from the council.

-Hi, sir. Hello.

-Not very happy.

Don't be frightened.

Oh, I ain't frightened.

We have identified the problem...

-And we've...

-You've identified it, now what is it?

The problem is people parking all day long

and you can't park in the vicinity.

-Ah, know what your actual problem is?

-What?

-You've took the parking spaces off us...

-Your design.

The way you've designed West Bromwich,

that's where your problem is.

You see, you're greedy.

I'm not going to get into the politics of it.

-All I'm here today...

-That's the problem.

-It IS the politics.

-No, no, let me just talk about something...

Undaunted, Kira presses on.

We're ready to kick. Hi.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Morning.

Lovely morning today.

The police were invited to this meeting

and they felt that the residents may feel intimidated

by the police being here.

You know what intimidation is?

When they're coming out at four o'clock in the morning

-putting their sirens on.

-Yeah.

Our biggest problem is the police officers parking outside our homes.

-OK...

-You don't... You don't face this problem.

This might be a harder sell than Kira was expecting.

Councils can't just slap in new parking restrictions

wherever they want.

They have to follow set procedures for the regulations to be legal.

Devon resident Peter Harry

believes his local council don't always bother.

Devon County Council are fleecing the motorists

of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds.

Peter drives the length and breadth of Devon,

hunting for dodgy restrictions

to help fellow motorists fight parking fines.

People think that they can't park in a disabled bay

because of the word "disabled" on the road.

It means nothing unless there's an upright plate

saying it's disabled parking only,

and there is a traffic order attached to it.

There's nothing here to say it's a disabled bay.

No crime, no fine.

I don't like to call myself a campaigner,

I like to call myself an armchair auditor.

That's what David Cameron and Eric Pickles...

..has urged everybody to be.

Peter's latest line of investigation

is that local civil enforcement officers, or CEOs,

are wearing the wrong uniforms.

Today he's out to capture one on camera.

This is a favourite spot, up around here.

They hang around quite a bit.

He was just stood there just now,

and now he's disappeared and I can't see him.

Where did you see him then?

Up there where those cars are?

-I blinked and he disappeared.

-Yeah?

The sign there says 30 minutes parking only,

no return within one hour.

So he must have been here within the hour

to place a ticket on that vehicle.

Peter finally has a CEO in his sights.

Have you got my permission to take a photograph, sir?

-I don't need it.

-Yes, you do, sir.

-No, I don't.

-Yes, you do.

-Public... Public place.

-Yeah, but I'm not a public person.

He's not enforcing legally,

because he should be displaying on his tunic

that he's enforcing for Devon County Council.

But he's displaying on his tunic

that he's enforcing for Mid Devon District Council.

Isn't that almost kind of small beans, though?

No, no, no, it's the law.

The law says that they should display

the name of the enforcing authority.

If Peter's right,

then every penalty charge notice the CEO's issued is invalid.

-Well, you learn something new every day.

-There you are.

This is one case where I think it ought to go to appeal, really.

"You learn something every day," he said, didn't he?

20,000 motorists a year bring their battles over parking tickets

to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

-That's the vehicle in question, yeah?

-Yes.

-That's our vehicle.

We have a fixed machine, David, that's a high-pressure water jetter.

You're parking as close as possible to the drain, is that right?

-Yeah, exactly, yeah.

-What's the length of the hose?

This is about people and human life.

And, you know, everybody's lives are different

and the circumstances that happen are completely different.

I've been doing it since 1993,

when I was the first ever adjudicator.

Motorists and councils can both attend hearings,

but a lot of the time only the drivers turn up.

-Good morning!

-Do sit down.

-How are you?

-I'm fine, thank you.

The council won't attend, I don't think,

because in these days of austerity,

they're not allowed to buy railway tickets any more, I don't think.

My wife was going to come, but she feels a bit emotional about it,

so I said I would come along and put our case.

David Hutt and his wife were having their drive cleaned,

so Mrs Hutt moved the car off the drive

and parked on a single yellow line in their street.

It's regular that we move cars off the drive and on to the side

and then back again.

David believes the council should show leniency

because his wife left a note explaining she was a resident.

Can you see on the front

-that there is...

-Yes.

That's a note that she put on.

Well, he probably couldn't read it.

No, well, sorry, the point is it had been raining

-so heavily that got washed out.

-She put it on the outside?

She put that on the outside and it got washed out.

Why wouldn't she put it on the inside?

Lord knows.

Had somebody left the car there first and she couldn't get into it?

No.

In the letter of the law,

you shouldn't park during the restriction period.

But the law is a blunt instrument

and I would just be asking that the council reconsider

on the basis that we are residents

and the restriction is not there to punish the residents,

it's more just to deter, if you like, the commuting traffic.

I'm not convinced that they would find that compelling,

so I think that we're all in the same boat here

and we're going to have to just come under the cosh

of the blunt instrument

-and I'm going to have to turn down your appeal, I'm afraid.

-OK.

-All right.

-Thank you so much.

-I'm not allowed to shake your hand, am I?

-No. But don't worry.

Don't worry. Great stuff.

David will now have to cough up the original fine of £70.

When drivers don't pay PCNs and ignore council reminder letters,

eventually the bailiffs come calling.

Golf. Got a Golf.

They use automatic number plate recognition cameras

to spot vehicles with outstanding fines on them.

We're bailiffs,

and we're here for nonpayment of a parking fine on this vehicle.

Debbie works for Whyte & Co bailiffs.

She specialises in recovering parking fines.

At the moment, the outstanding debt is £517.84.

We won't be able to let your vehicle go unless we have a payment made.

This morning, she's in Croydon on a roadside operation,

working alongside husband Steve and the local police.

Hermione?

Oh, that's mum.

Your mum, right, OK.

The car's been pulled over today for the nonpayment of a parking fine.

It's £517.84.

Jesus.

And we need to have a payment today.

-What, the full payment?

-Yeah.

The car belongs to the driver's mother,

but he'll need to pay up if he wants to go on his way.

Well, I haven't got the money on me right now.

Is there anyone who can pay it online for you?

Because we can't let you go unless we get the payment.

They parked on zigzags, whoever was driving the vehicle,

they were parked on zigzags, like, a pedestrian crossing,

so they deserve to get a parking ticket.

But a zigzag's a zigzag, innit, at the end of the day.

Obviously, he's saying they had difficulties paying.

Just who wants to pay and who can't or won't pay is the difference.

You haven't even proved to me that I was parked on a zigzag.

I mean, where is it?

It just says you were parked on a zigzag crossing.

Yeah.

And that's all the information I've got.

-Where? When?

-Well, it will be in Croydon.

-Oh, in January?

-Yeah, in January.

That's, like, eight months ago.

Yeah, it takes about six...minimum six months to come to bailiff stage.

Well, I haven't got the money now.

How much can you pay today?

I haven't got any money on me, I'm broke.

I might have a pound, I think.

Well, you can't pay by card, debit card or credit card?

No.

-You want what I haven't got.

-Well, the problem is, if we...

if the bailiffs have to go back to your mum's address,

they would be looking to do a house removal of your mum's goods.

I haven't got the money to pay 'em!

They say that I parked on a zigzag, which I don't do,

they can't prove any evidence or anything like that,

they've just got paperwork from Bromley or Croydon Council.

Meanwhile, Steve has had enough of waiting for the driver to pay up.

What are you doing?

-Is this yours, sir?

-Yeah.

If you ain't paying it, sir,

we're looking for some goods to seize, sir,

to cover the debts.

Oh, my goodness. You're going to seize my goods?!

It's all rubbish in there, really.

Well, you can just pay for it. It'll be sorted, sir.

I ain't got the money. I would pay it.

If you try a credit card with the lady, or a debit card,

if it doesn't go through, I'll believe you, sir, OK?

Because you must know that things we're told is unbelievable.

-OK, OK, I'll give you...

-Is that fair enough?

-Yeah.

Come on, then.

-And I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, then.

-OK.

The gentleman's going to try his cards -

if they don't go through,

we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt

-and then he's going to have to...

-Sort it out.

-..sort it out.

Look at that, one in me pocket. Can't be bad.

Is it a debit card, sir?

Yeah. Nothing's on them.

-We'll try 'em and we're all happy, then.

-OK.

Right, just pop your pin in, please, and the green button.

Where was you going, anywhere nice?

I'm just taking the missus to work.

Not authorised.

Because there's nothing on there.

There might be £6, if there's anything.

When drivers fail to pay up,

the bailiffs would normally remove the car.

But this is a mobility vehicle,

so Debbie and Steve decide to let them go.

Poor old Mum, she's 83, and I drive her around and stuff

and, you know...

The bailiff company who has got the original warrant

will have to go to their house and do a house removal

if that's what they want to do.

That's the price of living in this country.

Everybody wants your money, whether you've got it or not, find it.

What can I say?

This is not a cop out or anything.

I can't answer on behalf of the police. I will take...

In West Bromwich, residents are still voicing their opinions

on what to do about police officers' cars blocking up their streets.

We have to find another way of dealing with it.

-Can I give you a suggestion?

-Can I continue now?

No, no, I'm going to... In a minute.

-I'm not trying to keep it down...

-Keep it down? This is a good meeting.

-It's getting...

-I'm enjoying it.

What Kira really wants to do

is convince them to go for residents' parking,

but the scheme will cost locals £20 per permit.

I don't think we should have to pay for parking...

-residents' parking fees.

-No.

-£25, £20.

If you've got three people in your house with cars

and you're paying all that much money out

and you're paying your poll tax as well... I don't think so!

Resident schemes are not here

to jeopardise or inconvenience residents.

They are here to assist you.

Are they for life?

-They're for one year from the date.

-One year?!

-One year.

-You're joking.

So if people have this conception that, "I own this house,

"therefore the space outside my house is my own," that is wrong.

If you don't want a scheme, that's fine.

All you need to do is return the questionnaires

saying you don't want the scheme.

These questionnaires - we haven't received one.

-You haven't received one?

-No.

-Are you in that catchment area, sir?

In Richard Street West, just round the back here.

OK, sir. I have got some questionnaires here.

At the end of the day, I want to do something.

The council wants to do...

We know you have got an issue here, and we've got to start somewhere.

Questionnaires?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It is exhausting, but in a nice way.

You feel that you have...

The day has been long, there has been intense passions shown.

I think it's a racket, my friend.

It's another way of making money out of people.

They should have took that into consideration

when they was building the police station.

They knew they was going to be wanting car parks.

So, in other words, they've blocked everybody else's street up.

At the roadside operation in Croydon,

a mini-cab driver has been pulled over

for nonpayment of a parking fine.

Unless you cough up nearly £600, you lose your car,

you lose your work, you'll probably end up losing your home,

and you can even lose your family.

Bloody... It's a nightmare.

He says he's got someone coming down

to actually make the payment on his behalf,

so at least his car's not going to be removed,

and he can then go on his way.

When the driver's father-in-law does turn up,

he hasn't brought any money.

Instead, he takes the shopping home.

He's going up to Shirley.

-Oh, so not long. About, what?

-Not long, about half an hour.

-Half hour.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-See you soon.

He's taken my shopping home and see if he can help me with the payment.

-He's

-BLEEP

-us off.

-Don't be silly.

-He ain't even doing it.

-I'm telling you. He'll

-BLEEP

-us off.

Well, why don't you just get him to pay online?

Steve believes that it seems a bit of a story

that the man's going to take his shopping home

and then come back down with a card.

It seems a little bit strange.

You're a bit of a double act, aren't you, you two?

Yeah, we do try!

But we don't work together all the time, though.

No, just on these type of...

I couldn't work with Steve, live with him and work with him.

He's going to try to make the payment.

-He's going to TRY to make payment?

-Yeah.

-He's getting my credit card.

-He's going to try to make the payment,

-or he's going to make the payment?

-We're going to make the payment.

You're going to make the payment. You've got half an hour, sir.

If it ain't in time, you're going to lose the vehicle.

They want to get it as quickly as they can.

There's no giving chance.

There's no, you know, understanding or giving anybody a chance.

Before councils were allowed to manage their own parking enforcement,

it was a gentler time, when traffic wardens,

then part of the police force, patrolled our streets.

I wore a tie, and I chose to wear a tie.

The police ladies always liked to wear, like, a cravat.

Until she retired five years ago,

Helen Turner was the only traffic warden in Selby in North Yorkshire.

I wondered if I would take to it,

because after I gave my first ticket I nearly burst into tears

because he wasn't very happy.

But I thought, "Well, I've got myself into this, I've got to keep going."

If somebody had said to me, "Look, I'm dashing in for a prescription,

"it's my little boy, I've just been to the doctor's,"

I'd say, "Be quick."

You've got to have a bit of leeway, give and take with them all.

But the give and take seemed to stop in Selby

when North Yorkshire County Council took over the job in June this year.

We've got these traffic wardens come from Harrogate

that are just acting with force, like nobody ever has done before.

The minute anybody parks at the back, they're diving on them,

it's ridiculous.

I used to just nip up behind Wetherells

and pull up round there, you see, and nip in to the bank and nip out again.

I got fined - was it £30?

£60.

You normally see them about every hour.

They walk up this way and then they walk back down

and then they reappear.

Certainly every couple of hours.

Richard Schofield owns a gift shop on the high street.

Even before the new civil enforcement officers arrived,

the town's retailers were struggling.

I've become a little bit of an island, really,

in that I'm stuck between two empty shops.

We've got the Booze Buster's and the Blockbuster's both closed.

And then I've got two charity shops.

I've been in the town for 12 years.

Certainly, we bought it at a difficult time,

and things seem to have got worse.

The internet's become much more popular.

People don't even leave home now.

And we've got new parking wardens come from Harrogate recently

and the chances are if they're five minutes late to their car, now,

they're going to get a £60 fine.

I think once a customer's had a £60 fine,

they ain't coming back here any more.

I know they did an old gentleman near our shop.

He had a blue badge, and they did him

because he hadn't set the time properly.

-Recently?

-About three weeks ago on a Saturday.

-That's these new guys.

-£70-odd it cost him.

And he came in the shop asking what he could do,

because he didn't understand - he was in his 80s.

People I've spoke to in the shop, they're not given a minute,

whereas before I think the police -

and certainly when Helen was doing it,

she understood that the traders, you know,

people needed to stop there and come and get a card

and they liked to have a chat.

They were just a bit more understanding,

they were a friend to the town.

I had a delivery man the other day, works for himself,

he said, "I'm never coming back to your town."

How am I going to get my parcels?

In Central London, racking up parking fines

is an occupational hazard for delivery drivers.

I've got a collection of tickets,

yeah, from all over the place.

How many do you get?

I would say two a week, for sure.

Vincenzo Oliveri owns two Italian restaurants in the West End.

He goes backwards and forwards in his van throughout the day

picking up supplies.

All this road, there are double yellow lines.

If the traffic warden comes here, you've got a ticket.

They don't let you function properly.

The rent is very high, the rates they are very high.

The labour is very high in Central London.

If you add also the tickets that you get nearly every day,

somebody's got to pay for it.

One of Vincenzo's restaurants

is in a street where no loading is allowed whatsoever.

Not very convenient for essential deliveries.

I'm checking just in case, because as soon as they come, we have to run.

Fernando... HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

About ten people, they have to help me.

Roberto.

Now it's started to rain as well.

That's what we need!

As soon as they come here... Actually, he's coming.

Is he there?

There's somebody with a yellow...

It's very stressful, very stressful.

It's incredible.

I will have a heart attack soon.

With the weekly bill for parking fines

now running into tens of thousands for freight companies,

the body that represents them has set up a dedicated service

to deal with parking tickets on behalf of members.

The top four are cancellations, so it's like, "Yes!"

Mandy Carey's full-time job

is processing and appealing parking tickets.

The vehicle is parked on a single yellow line,

there is no kerb lip there at all.

Once I've seen something like that,

I would then go on to Google Street View.

So, as you can see,

there is no indication of time plates of restrictions or anything at all.

-It's a bit like being an investigator, isn't it?

-It is.

Some jobs get a bit mundane, don't they? But this one, it's not,

it's exciting.

Access to the vehicle's tracking technology

helps make the case watertight.

I've also attached the driver's trip sheet,

and it indicates doors opening and closing,

so there is a delivery being made.

Hopefully, we should get a letter back

saying that that one will be cancelled.

Ironically, parking fines don't lead to huge profits for councils.

The cost of enforcement

often cancels out the income from the fines.

They do make money from motorists who pay to park.

Westminster Council have realised that it's better for them

and better for motorists

if they stop issuing so many tickets.

There is a waiting restriction.

-Yes.

-Thank you.

So they're taking a more human approach to parking enforcement.

And how long will that take, sir?

Say hello to the traffic marshals.

The hat, flat hat - yes, I do like it. It is stylish.

It does look friendlier.

Hello.

This bay is suspended...

..so you're not allowed to park here.

'Do you ever issue tickets?'

Of course, that would be the last resort.

Like the way I told her to move now, if she refused to move,

then it's a case it will be the last resort for me.

Thank you.

The marshals currently operate in a small area around Leicester Square.

They ticket cars at roughly half the rate of normal CEOs.

Instead, they want to encourage drivers to pay for parking.

You have to pay by phone if you're going to park there, yeah?

-Have you paid some money today?

-Yes.

We always pay. We are chauffeurs, we have to pay.

You know, he told me that he had made payment.

And he hasn't.

So when I check, he hasn't made payment.

-Are you just making it now?

-Yes.

OK.

Because it's not coming up - so you're just making it now.

Not all drivers quite understand what is required of them.

Afternoon, sir.

How are you doing, are you good?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's a regular. We do see the gentleman around here.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

He's driving round the corner,

isn't he just adding to the traffic out on other roads?

Well...possibly.

Possibly.

-But, again, drivers do need to find...

-Here he is again!

We get a lot of deliveries here

and we have to get people to back in,

and they're always just sitting there.

They obviously haven't got a parking permit or nothing,

so they don't get ticketed, they just drive round the corner and...

Know what I mean? That's a problem for us.

Is that our friend again over there?

Yes. Yes.

That's our friend again.

-Hello again, sir.

-How are you doing, man?

-How are you doing, are you good?

-I'm very good.

Please...

..try and get yourself in a pay by phone bay or something

-and make payment, please.

-Sorry?

-Try and get yourself in a pay by phone bay please, sir.

-All right.

Thank you, sir.

Since he complied, there's no need to issue him a PCN.

It's the polite thing to do.

Half an hour later, this driver still isn't getting the message.

You're chasing me around, innit?

We're just walking around and we keep on bumping into you.

Bailiffs Debbie and Steve

have been on this roadside job in Croydon for four hours.

How long have you been married, you two?

Two years.

Been together 18, got married two and a half years ago.

We met at a friend's hairdressing salon.

I felt sorry for her.

Earlier today, they pulled over a mini-cab driver

who owes £547 for an unpaid fine.

How do you justify

the amount of levy you put on the outstanding balance?

All our costs are reasonable, they're all set by the council.

But your cost, it outweighs,

literally outweighs, by far, what the outstanding balance is.

Well, if you took that off, you took the VAT off,

you've got £288.20 is our cost.

What about the VAT, why would you charge anybody VAT?

Because we're a company.

-Is he paying, or what?

-Yeah, he's paying now, I think.

The mini-cab driver's father-in-law has returned -

this time with a credit card in hand.

-Is it a debit card or credit card, sir?

-Credit card.

-Credit card.

-Will there be any...

-A surcharge on the credit card?

Yes, a 3% surcharge.

Have you got a calculator on you?

Apparently, there's a 3% surcharge on the card,

so we might have to go into the local branch,

transfer the money over to a debit card,

which is going to cost me nothing, and then make the payment that way.

Excuse me, can I quickly go down to the NatWest Bank,

which is literally at the end of that road,

so I won't have to pay a 3% surcharge?

-How long is it going to take you, sir?

-End of that road.

If you want to believe me or not.

I don't know where the end of that road is, sir.

West Croydon is just there, so...yeah?

If the tow truck gets here,

the vehicle will be put on the tow truck.

Increasing numbers of PCNs

never come into contact with car windscreens -

they're issued by CCTV and come through the post.

When the ticket came through the door, I was flabbergasted,

I thought, "What's this?"

I was trying to think, somebody must have made a mistake here.

Bristol resident Lexington Burke

was issued a PCN on a street well-known for its Caribbean food.

Jamaican mangoes here.

Oh, my gosh, this is really nice - a good smell on that one!

He'd driven his disabled aunt to the street

to visit her favourite West Indian restaurant.

She loves to come here in order to buy the food from here,

and knows the person who cooks the meals very well.

She's very sick and her taste changes,

but she usually goes for something like jerk chicken

or she may want to have curry goat.

It's easier to talk about what's right about her

than what's wrong with her.

She has dialysis three times per week, angina,

had how many heart attacks? I've lost count.

His aunt is a blue badge holder,

but the disabled bay outside the restaurant was already taken.

On the day itself, I wasn't parked in the actual disabled bay,

I was parked...

..the next position after the disabled parking,

which is here where this Golf is parked.

In front of me here is a sign that isn't easy to understand,

so I relied on what the disabled badge holder sign told me.

I thought I had three hours parking here and parked accordingly.

But you weren't actually parked in a disabled bay?

I wasn't in the disabled bay,

but I parked in the nearest spot to it and put the badge out.

While he was parked there, a CCTV car caught him on camera.

There he is. Oh, look at that!

And he's just driven by.

That is amazing! I cannot believe he's here again.

Lex is taking his case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

Increasing numbers of the appeals now happen over the telephone.

I'm OK. There is obviously a little bit of nerves.

Never done this before.

PHONE RINGS

Phone hearings make it easier for councils and motorists to take part.

Hello.

Hello, gentlemen.

-Good morning.

-Yes, good morning.

Mr James, are you there?

Yes, I am.

Just to start.

This was a ticket that was sent to you through the post,

-wasn't it, Mr Burke?

-Correct, yes.

Did you know what the regulations were in this bay?

-Did you understand?

-No.

I will say to you that I am very much confused

and a bit perplexed to understand how to interpret these.

It's part of my argument, my case -

I feel that the city council is not being very user friendly.

So you were... Were you shopping for the household, then, on that day?

I sometimes do that for the household

and take the household with me, also.

Do you have a disability yourself, Mr Burke?

Well, not that is registered per se.

Right, so you yourself do not have a blue badge?

-No, I don't.

-But you...

-No, I don't.

-But you carry around your mother and your auntie.

-My auntie.

Well, they have limited mobility.

They can't carry much weight at all.

So I've got a choice, if I can find parking,

I can go with them to the shops

so I can be the load bearer of whatever they shop for, yes?

You didn't realise that there was two different bays there?

I would have parked exactly where the black vehicle is,

if I may say so, but it was taken.

I'm a disabled badge holder

so I thought, "OK, I'm going to park to the nearest proximity

"and that should cover me," I thought.

But with great respect, Mr Burke,

you aren't a disabled badge holder, are you?

It's your aunt and your mother.

No, no, sorry, I correct myself.

When I say I'm a disabled badge holder,

I'm driving for disabled individuals.

In fact, the blue badge didn't mean Lex could park there.

So will his argument that the signs were confusing hold any sway?

Mr James, I can't read the sign in the evidence that you've supplied.

The comment just below it on the page says what the restrictions are.

Where is that sign?

Because I can't see that sign in the video footage.

If you scroll back the footage

to just before where you can see the black car,

if you look on the left of Mr Lewington's car,

you can see the sign at the top of the picture.

Caroline's not satisfied that the video or the still photographs

prove that the restriction was properly signed.

I appreciate they couldn't have parked where there's a loading ban,

but it may not have been clear to them at the time.

I do not have these very clear additional pictures

of the signing at this complicated site.

So, Mr Burke, I'm going to allow your appeal on this occasion.

-So thank you very much, gentlemen.

-Thank you.

OK, bye.

I've won.

My appeal has been upheld in this instance.

-Guess what?

-Yeah?

I won!

-The tribunal has found in my favour.

-Thank God.

-You prayed.

-I did.

That went as most of them do go, they hang on bits of evidence.

And in this case I happen to agree with the chief adjudicator

that the picture we provided is not that clear.

Amazing, amazing, amazing.

It needs to happen, though.

I can only hope other people have the courage, you know,

of their conviction to appeal.

In West Bromwich, the battle is still raging

for parking spaces on the streets around the new police station.

There's a lady's dropped kerb here.

Now, there was somebody parked across it

and we fetched the police officers out,

and they was told they've got no rights to move them.

They was blocked in, and they worked at the hospital.

They had to leave the car and walk in to work.

Peter Thomas's hairdressing salon is in the eye of the storm.

I spent a quarter of a million pound on this.

Took lots of risks.

This was derelict for 18 years, and I've given 19 people jobs.

It affects people passing through

who think they'll just stop off and get their hair cut -

can't park, so they carry on.

The way we're going at the minute, you know,

the business is just folding

and a lot of people are going to be out of work.

I mean, at the moment, all we're hearing is it's going to be permits.

Well, if it's permits, my staff can't park outside.

For the scheme to go ahead, more than 50% of the residents

on each street will have to vote for it.

I cannot see another way.

It's a very old town, we've got old terraced houses,

there is no excess land anywhere to facilitate.

The only way we will remove them is by introducing this restriction.

The council have sent people letters

about having a residents' scheme put in.

We're knocking the doors, checking that they've had the forms,

if they haven't had the forms we're giving them another one.

If you just read it, if the scheme goes ahead...

Have a read of it.

Oh.

You are seeing democracy in its best form.

Obviously, you can't force forms on people.

-Have you actually filled a form in?

-No.

No. Do you want to fill one in now while I wait?

-Oh, a parking permit form?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I have, actually.

-You've filled one in. Have you handed it back?

-Yeah, last week.

If they vote for the scheme,

residents will have CEOs patrolling their streets.

The arrival of new CEOs in Selby is upsetting the locals

and now threatens one of its long-standing trades.

I got a ticket on my car, didn't I?

Cos I come to pick t' kiosk up as usual.

Doubtfire's ice cream van has been a Selby institution for over 70 years.

Every afternoon, the owners pull up on the yellow line

to tow the kiosk away and have never had a problem - until now.

Traffic warden come and told me that once the kiosk is hooked on

then you can't serve, so if anybody's stood there waiting to be served,

you've just got to refuse them,

and he says, "If you don't go, I'll give you a ticket."

So he give me a ticket.

Me daughter just paid it, like.

And I say, it's her business, like,

now I just come to pick it up for her and that.

And like I say, she just paid it.

Save any aggro.

What will happen if you can't trade here any more, then?

What, if we couldn't trade here any more?

Well, she'd just lose her business, wouldn't she?

She'd have to shut down.

But one Selby resident isn't taking her PCN lying down.

Louise Gomerson got a ticket

on the very first day of new council enforcement.

I'm a homeowner, I have a car, I want to park outside my own house.

I don't really think it's too much to ask, to be honest.

Louise's street has a single yellow line down it.

But until the new CEOs showed up, she'd been parking on it regularly.

I noticed at the end of March that there was the broken yellow line,

so, basically, because I knew that it invalidated restrictions

on the street, I took advantage of being able to park outside my house.

This is the line here.

I mean, it's over a metre - it's over a metre wide.

I parked literally from the end of March

up until getting the parking ticket on the 1st of June.

Louise was told by the old wardens

that a broken line invalidates the restriction,

so she's decided to appeal her ticket

and strike a blow against the new enforcers.

Nine out of ten people would probably just pay it

because they just think, "What's the point in appealing it?"

Whereas I'm different.

It's a bit of a long-standing joke at work, to be honest.

I think they do think I'm nuts,

but then anybody that meets me think I'm nuts anyway.

But that's... That's just my personality!

While the PCN count is mounting up in Selby,

in Westminster, the council are trying out an approach

which involves them giving out fewer tickets.

The bay's suspended at the moment,

so I'm asking you to move on, OK?

But the marshals can only move cars along if they have drivers in them.

Mohammed's come across a scooter left parked in a suspended bay.

Check on that.

PCN's been issued...early morning.

How come you give ticket?

-You all right, sir?

-Because nothing there in the morning.

They don't close here in the morning when I park my bike.

This time plate has been up here since yesterday.

No, I didn't see it this morning.

It was not in this morning when I come out,

I come in this morning to work.

Sir, the suspension has been up here yesterday, I was on duty yesterday.

I've checked, the suspension was up here.

-I'm afraid not. This was not there yesterday.

-Furthermore...

If it's here, I would not park it there.

Barriers, the barriers are nothing to do with us, Westminster.

That one is not there.

The barriers haven't come from Parking Services.

-That one as well is not there. This one.

-If you listen to me,

as the PCN stands from here, the PCN does stand valid.

It's down to you now, sir, to write in to the council,

contest the ticket if you feel that you have a grounds of appeal.

OK. Is that good?

OK, thank you very much, sir.

I start to pay a year parking,

so today council give me a ticket for no reason.

I don't understand.

That suspension was up yesterday.

That other gentleman was saying it wasn't.

You saw it?

Yeah, we saw it.

We understand that when drivers are angry,

they're not angry at me personally.

They're angry simply on the situation.

None.

Even though the marshals give out fewer tickets than CEOs,

convincing the public they're different isn't easy.

They will say anything they want to you.

They will do anything they want to you.

Touch your hat.

Some people, they will take these and go.

Marshal or no marshal, they are there to nick you anyway.

It doesn't matter what you do or what you tell them.

No matter where they're from, what they've done in their life,

they are all one robot, all the same.

-You just got here?

-I just got here.

-When?

-Pardon?

-When?

-Now.

OK.

It will tell us. Don't worry.

We hate him, we hate this traffic warden.

Hello. Mister.

Mr Traffic Warden.

You know, if you are civilised,

you will not tell somebody that "I hate you."

That is it.

Bailiff Debbie has pulled over another car

at the roadside operation in Croydon.

The policemen are coming over now, right, for this Audi.

Yeah, OK, right,

you've got two nonpayment of parking fines on this vehicle.

-No.

-All right. OK. You've been parking illegally.

The Polish driver speaks very little English.

He gets his wife on the phone to act as interpreter.

Hello. Hello?

Hi, right.

The gentleman's got two payments - two nonpayment of parking fines

due to Croydon Council.

But according to them,

they've already paid a parking debt to a different bailiff company.

-Yeah, well, just wait...

-Yesterday, this evening...

When... Did the bailiffs come round yesterday, did you say?

Right. OK.

And did they give you any paperwork, have you made any payments to them?

He paid on Friday to another bailiff company.

He was charged £700-odd.

700 quid. That's...

Yeah, but you don't know what...

how many times they've been out or anything else like that, do you?

And they clamped it.

But we're just trying to get this all confirmed

with the council before we let him go.

How does a ticket get to £700?

It's different charges.

Obviously, I can't comment on what another bailiff company charges.

We have set figures in our company.

Obviously, once the new legislations come in in April next year,

we're all going to have to charge the same,

so it'll make life easier for everybody then.

Word comes through that they've only paid off one of the parking tickets.

It's news to the driver.

At the moment, the outstanding debt is £523.84 that needs to be paid.

-No!

-Yeah.

She paid it.

She's paid one.

You had two and they should have both been paid.

523.84.

Reluctantly, the driver decides to pay up -

half in cash, half on a card.

Thank you.

You've got to comply with the rules.

And if he's over here working and he's living here

then he needs to understand that if you get a parking fine,

you've got to pay them.

The mini-cab driver's back from the bank.

He's counting his cash. What a good payday for him.

I borrowed it off my father-in-law,

hopefully I'll be able to pay him back once I get to work.

So...the system's a bit messed up.

There's no consideration or understanding.

Just take your heart out and just leave it at home

and just come to work.

In Selby, the rift between locals and parking enforcers is deepening.

I'm going to get my paper.

It's two and a half months since the new CEOs arrived.

They've got some figures on the parking for last year

as opposed to when the police were doing it

to this year, when North Yorkshire County Council

and Harrogate are doing it, and they're interesting figures.

-How are you?

-Fine, thanks, how are you?

Yeah, good, thank you.

Are you keeping busy?

So-so.

The whole town's reading the newspaper.

It's just an outrage, isn't it? Complete...

They're just out to kill the trade in every angle they can.

"Anger as parking fines are increased five-fold."

I never did the maths on that.

693 tickets as opposed to 141 last year.

That is disgusting.

And I think I've got a quote in here somewhere -

"Richard Schofield, town centre manager for Selby Chamber

"and owner of Gowthorpe's Heaven and Home,

"said the increase has confirmed his worst fears.

"'This is a disgrace,' he said."

The ice cream van's made it in to the paper too.

"Recently received a ticket,

"it is not the van itself that attracts the ticket,

"but the car that comes to tow it."

Unbelievable, isn't it?

But that was there when Katrina was a kid.

I used to buy Katrina an ice cream from there.

She's in her 20s now.

That's how long it's been there.

The council argues that if you comply with parking regulations,

you don't get a ticket.

But Richard's fearful for the future of the town.

If things continue as they are, to be brutally honest,

I think I'd struggle to make another couple of years.

That'll be it.

It'll all be over then, be the end of the dream,

the end of the vision, it'll be end of everything.

It'll be particularly upsetting.

I don't like to think about it, really.

It'll be a great sadness.

For one Selby resident, it's crunch time.

Louise Gomerson's appeal hearing has come up.

I've got a point to prove and, you know,

you've got to fight your cause

because if they continue to get away with issuing tickets like they are

then Selby's just going to be more of a ghost town than what it already is.

Thank you.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Are you all right?

I'm fine. Do sit down.

Shake hands.

Louise is appealing a PCN she received outside her house.

The reason I did park there on that particular day

was because there is a broken yellow line.

A few years previous, I was issued with a ticket

when the police were issuing tickets in Selby, and I appealed it,

and they withdrew the ticket because when it's a broken yellow line,

unless there's a T-bar on the end, it invalidates the restriction.

How long ago was that?

-Oh, probably about two or three years, at a guess.

-Yes.

I thought you were supposed to trust what the police tell you,

so what they've told me, I, you know, believed it to be true.

-There is the gap, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I actually...

-Which is what?

-About...

-It's probably about just over a metre wide, I would say.

Just over a metre, that's what I judged it.

And it's quite a long way further up the street, isn't it?

-It is, but to my under...

-About 50 metres or so?

Caroline's seen all the correspondence Louise

has sent to the council.

You did suggest to the council

that perhaps they should train everybody up

-to your version of events.

-Yeah, I was pretty mad at the time,

-so maybe it was something I shouldn't have said...

-Yes.

But it was, you know, heat of the moment.

Since Louise's previous ticket was cancelled,

the Court of Appeal has clarified the law on broken lines.

Now, obviously, if you're parked very near to the defect

and there's some confusion as to what applies,

then that's a valid argument.

But if the defect is far away from the car,

then it doesn't invalidate it.

I'm going to have to dismiss your appeal

because your car was parked in contravention of the traffic order.

All right? So I hope that's cleared it up for you.

You said the law was hazy at one point,

and it is now very clear and that is the clarity of it.

What happens now, then?

I'm afraid you're going to have to pay the penalty charge notice.

-Right, the lower amount?

-No, I'm afraid not.

They gave you an opportunity to do that,

and they did explain and you didn't take advantage of that,

so it's now the full penalty charge of £70.

-All right?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Oh...

Like, I'm probably silly getting upset about it,

but I just feel that I've wasted my time.

At the end of the day, you kind of can't give up the fight,

but at the same time I don't really want to get any more parking tickets.

With regards to Selby, the problems still continue.

Until they become a little bit more lenient

with how they issue tickets and stuff like that,

then the problem is still going to be there

and Selby's just going to continue to go downhill,

which is not what we want for our town.

We want better for our town.

Back in Westminster, Mohammed is checking on some pay by phone bays.

He's come across a car that's gone over time.

I'll just double check it again

and continue to issue him with a penalty.

It's an instant PCN, since the driver must have received a text message.

-That's my car.

-Hello, sir.

-Is it too late?

-Yes, it is, sir.

Oh, never mind.

Forgot the alarm.

Just a minute, sir.

You seem very sanguine about the fact...

No, no, no, it's my fault.

It is what it is.

You know, I came late and I ought to pay.

A citizen who is happy to pay up.

That's refreshing.

This is what I love about London - actually, I'm very serious.

It's painful when it happens to you,

but at least people respect traffic and they park well.

In Paris, it's a nightmare because there's no ticket,

there's no law enforcement,

and when it happens, I think it's like £20, so nobody cares.

I'm much happier about the system here.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

And he has a tough job. Like, his job is the toughest one I know

-because nobody loves you.

-Thank you.

I appreciate your understanding.

No problem. Take care.

Westminster are so pleased with the outcome of the marshalling trial,

they've decided to roll it out across the Borough.

As he was saying, traffic down there is chaos,

whereas here we have control of our traffic, you know?

And, yes - you can clearly see he appreciates that.

The results of the West Bromwich residents' parking vote are in,

and Kira Fleck presents them to her boss.

This is the whole area that we identified that has been affected

because of the police station.

So the green are in favour

-and the red are against.

-Green are in favour, yes.

At the moment, Oak Road comes out

as in favour of having a resident parking scheme.

It's over 50%. But none of the others do.

What it will do is, by putting a scheme there,

it will still further push problems in Oak Lane,

Lodge Road, Cambridge Street.

It's surprising why they haven't agreed,

because they've got a huge problem.

In the meantime, since I spoke to you last,

I have spoken to the chief superintendent of the police station

about the possibility of removing some of this green area

around the edge and replacing that with parking spaces.

But you could get an awful lot of them right round the edge there

if some of that greenery was removed.

We like to have the trees and the grass and the greenery where we can,

but if we need parking spaces,

that, realistically, to me, is more important.

With the shape of the permit scheme decided,

Kira's visiting residents to let them know.

Whenever we actually propose any changes or any restrictions,

we are required by law to put notices in the area,

and as you can see on this lamp column, there is a notice.

Some of them may have been removed,

somebody's tried to remove this one as well.

In this day and age where we are making cutbacks

and we haven't got sufficient staff,

I think the bit about talking to the people and the community out there

is sort of going by the wayside, and we need to make more effort.

DOG BARKS

Hello, little one, and what's your name?

-Alfie.

-Alfie.

-It's all right, Alfie.

He was attacked last week, so be careful,

-because he might be a bit...

-Oh, oh, OK.

Hello, Alfie.

-How are you, anyway?

-Come in. Oh, I'm all right.

You're all right?

-Parking, the scheme.

-Oh, yes.

-We're only doing it Oak Road.

-Oak Road. Yeah.

We're doing it... Well, we're proposing it for there

and hopefully people will be happy,

because the majority have asked for it.

All the residents in the area have received letters

telling them the result.

Nav lives on Oak Road.

It was good. I mean, we was overjoyed.

The way we look at it,

I think anything just to get away from the nightmare of the parking.

And if that means we have to pay something towards that now,

you know, we'll have to do it.

Alan and Joan live on a street

that didn't vote in favour of the permits.

So things are only going to get worse for them.

Well, I wanted to, but as the wife says, we pay tax,

we pay insurance, and even if they put one on,

-you still wouldn't be guaranteed a parking space.

-A parking space.

The council have made it quite plain that that's what they want doing.

And they'll do it, whether you want it or not, it'll be...

And you can take it to court.

It won't make any difference

because they've got more money than what we've got.

Hiya.

Last time I came here, you wanted to chop my hair off, I remember that.

Wherever we put a resident parking scheme,

if there is any property that is right on the junction

and there's restrictions there,

we will include them in the residents' scheme.

Obviously, you would have to buy business permits,

but it is at a far less cost

than individuals who would have to park in the town centre.

-That is no good for me.

-No, no, we were going...

You get ladies in with perms and colours.

-We've looked at your hairdressing...

-You've looked at it?

-I have.

I have one priority.

Business permits will allow Peter's staff to park,

but Kira's also allowed some free parking for his customers.

-We have put two hours, no return within three.

-Right.

That allows people to go in and...

Yeah, that's better, thanks.

Are you OK with that explanation?

Yeah, as long as we can get something sorted...

Yeah, we'll sort it, we'll get there.

Everybody will be happy.

-OK, you take care.

-Thank you very much.

-Take care.

It's human nature to find a place where they don't have to pay.

Space everywhere now is a commodity and we have to manage it.

Next time...

It's full up down there. Full.

..a seaside town buckles under the weight of tourists...

We've got a board that says "car park full",

and they drive round it.

..parking enforcement upsets the locals...

You take my car in front of me! How do you sleep at night?

-I'm sorry...

-Have you got children, have you got a mother,

have you got a wife?

..and a £30 parking ticket ends in arrest.

-Stop resisting.

-Take your hands away.

Take your hands away now.