Thanet council responds to questions over parking department outsourcing

The parking appeals service is being handled by a private company

Thanet council says it will not be outsourcing parking department roles, although one service is under discussion and is already being handled by a private company.

In December speculation was raised that all parking responsibilities could be outsourced after the council’s deputy leader Cllr Lin Fairbrass posted to social media, saying there was an ongoing investigation taking place in answer to questions over the service.

Cllr Fairbrass did not elaborate on the nature of the investigation.

But, in response to Freedom of Information request, TDC says parking roles are not being outsourced but the parking appeals service has been taken on by a private provider for a one year period.

A spokesman said: “The council is not outsourcing parking roles but is considering outsourcing the parking appeals process service.

“This would not affect parking staff. Whilst the council carries out the procurement process for the longer term, the authority has outsourced the parking appeals process service to Imperial Civil Enforcement Services for a period of one year.”

Imperial Civil Enforcement Services can provide PCN issue and recovery process, permit systems, cashless parking, patrol officers from a third party operator, training, car park equipment and consultation services.

According to Thanet council statistics between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017 some 17,181 parking penalties were issued on the isle. While 9,544 were paid, some 1,655 were appealed, 3,755 were cancelled or written off and 1,785 were passed to bailiffs. Sixteen cases were taken to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, leaving 426 cases not accounted for on the TDC website.

The penalty notices provided income of £479,519.05 for that period, a rise of £142, 813 for the same period in 2015-16.

2 Comments

  1. I heard that there were only two parking enforcement officers covering the whole of Thanet and that the rest were suspended on full pay pending an investigation…

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