Traffic enforcement officers in Thanet issued 13,006 penalty charge notices in the 2023/24 financial year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024) despite having less than half the workforce needed by the authority.
A report to councillors says the majority of fines were for on street infringements such as parking on double yellow lines.
It adds that 9704 of the penalty charge notices were paid either within the 14 day discount period or in full, 779 were cancelled or written off and 1057 have been sent to the bailiffs for recovery.
Some 7 cases were taken to appeal at tribunal, 2 were accepted, 2 dismissed and 3 were not contested.
Officers say: “Some cases are still ongoing as they span more than one financial year which is why the numbers don’t neatly add up.”
The Civil Enforcement Team work seven days a week from early morning until late at night. Their role is restricted to the enforcement of traffic regulation orders, enforcing double yellow lines, single yellow lines, parking bay infringements and failure to pay and display.
They are unable to enforce obstruction of the highway, driveways or pavement parking, these are all enforced by the police.
Thanet council needs 11 full time equivalent enforcement officers but has been working with between 3 and 5 over the past year due to recruitment difficulties.
In March councillors heard job adverts for the roles, advertised as temporary to permanent for £13,09 per hour (approx. £23k per year) on a 37 hour week, had not been advertised on the council website and were also taken down by HRGO.
The report to councillors on the Thanet Joint Transportation Board says: “A significant effort has been undertaken over the last year to attract and retain Civil Enforcement Officers including an increase to the market supplement introduced last year.
“There has been a successful round of recruitment with assistance from an agency which has seen one new officer join in May, two due to join at the beginning of June and one later in June. This will bring us up to seven officers.
“We have halted the recruitment drive with the agency until these officers are trained. Once they are trained we will look to recruit again.”
