Small businesses punished as London parking tickets jump 50%

Over-zealous traffic wardens will write tickets during deliveries

VAN operators in London are being hounded by parking wardens working for cash squeezed London councils happy to plaster van windscreens with yellow penalty charge notices (PCNs): parking tickets to most of us.

As if things aren’t tough enough for small business, London’s boroughs inflicted a punishing 50% increase in parking tickets in 2012.

The worst offenders were Westminster, Camden and The City with nearly all the capital’s tickets handed out by only a third of the boroughs.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) surveyed 27 businesses who had paid out a damaging £2.9 million in fines. Tickets are often issued during deliveries and though many are successfully contested, that just piles on the pressure and cost of doing business in London.

The survey looked at which enforcement authorities issued most tickets,  which were the worst hotspots, whether tickets were issued by CCTV or a traffic warden, and the success of appeals.

The FTA found locations where drivers were most likely to receive PCNs, providing valuable information for business van managers and drivers about which areas are the worst for parking restrictions.

Natalie Chapman of the FTA said:

“Commercial vehicle operators have grown smarter when making deliveries in the unfriendly roadside environment of central London, but the survey suggests there is a need for them to improve their understanding of how certain parking restrictions apply.  As well as training drivers and identifying PCN hotspots, a well-targeted and intelligent approach to appealing unfair PCNs could save some companies hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.”