Norwich parking fines should match those in London

Bosses at the authority are calling for fines to be raised to the same level as those issued in London in a bid to stop people parking illegally.

But a drivers’ pressure group have called the move overzealous and said the council is using “a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.

Parking fines are at an all-time high in Norwich (Image: PA WIRE)

A spokeswoman for Norwich City Council said that the authority is committed to tackling the issue and will continue to educate drivers, but also pledged to enforce penalties where necessary.

She added: “Many authorities (like ourselves) and the British Parking Association (BPA) think these penalties are too low now and do not deter some offenders, and the penalties need to be increased to the same as the London Boroughs at £75 to £100."

Currently, those parking illegally in Norwich are handed a fine worth £70 or £50, or £35 or £25 if paid quickly.

It comes as new figures revealed that just over 19,000 tickets were handed out between January and October last year – the highest level on record.

Rouen Road is a magnet for illegal parking, with 228 tickets handed out in the first six months of 2024 (Image: Sonya Duncan)

REPEAT OFFENDERS

A Freedom of Information request found that between January 2018 and October 2023, nearly 91,748 tickets were issued to cars parked illegally in Norwich.

One of the biggest individual offenders in the city received a whopping 134 parking fines in 2021, followed by another with 128 in 2022.

In 2023 alone, 1,205 drivers were handed three or more tickets.

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This has led to Green Party councillor for the Wensum ward, Liam Calvert, calling for the council to introduce even more stringent measures to stop repeat offenders.

He said: "While asking the government to allow higher fines is part of the solution, Norwich City Council should use its existing powers to tow repeat offenders as part of a wider strategy of deterrence.

"We seem to have a system that allows some people to park wherever they like so long as they pay the fines.

Green party councillor for Wensum ward, Liam Calvert (Image: Liam Calvert)

"Unlike many places like Ipswich, Southampton and Coventry, Norwich has no arrangement to tow the vehicles of repeat offenders so, for a price, they can selfishly clutter our streets and cause problems for others whenever they feel like it.

"The thing is, this isn’t a one-off.

"In one year just five drivers were responsible for 360 tickets between them.

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"We should be looking at a system where the vehicles of repeat offenders are removed from the street at the owner's expense.

"To be frank, we can’t allow these drivers to carry on taking the mick out of those who park legally and pay their way."

Colegate in Norwich is the worst area in Norfolk for parking fines (Image: Sonya Duncan)

TACKLING ILLEGAL PARKING

Norwich City Council says that it will continue clamping down on drivers parking illegally in the city.

A spokeswoman said: "The Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) in Norwich are a visible presence across the city seven days a week and 364 days of the year.

"There are three teams of CEOs covering a minimum of 10 hours across each day of the week.

"CEOs will continue to educate and enforce poor or illegal parking where required and the City Council will continue to work with partner agencies such as Norfolk Police, Norfolk County Council and Parking Operations at BCKLWN to tackle these issues.

"The Civil Enforcement Officer teams are aware of repeat offenders and areas of high levels of illegal parking and target patrolling and enforcement accordingly to address these problems.

"Many authorities (like ourselves) and the BPA think these penalties are too low now and do not deter some offenders, and the penalties need to be increased to the same as the London Boroughs at £75 to £100."

There have been calls to increase parking fines in Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

'SLEDGEHAMMER TO CRACK A NUT'

But the Alliance of British Drivers, a drivers’ pressure group, said that increasing fines would not help tackle the issue.

Brian Macdowall from the group said: "The call by Norwich Council to raise local parking fines to London levels is a thinly disguised attempt to extract ever more revenue from hard-pressed drivers

"Councils are judge and jury when deciding the parking regime for an area - drivers are easy pickings for cash-strapped councils.

"Overzealous parking restrictions and high charges are as much a problem as one driver in the district receiving 130 fines in a year.

"Hiking fines to extortionate levels does nothing to improve the availability and pricing of parking in an area 

"Setting levels of say, £120, for parking offences will be a significant hit on anyone’s income 

"Norwich are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."