Parking fines of more than £100k issued in Thanet in just three months

Parking charge notices Photo RAC

Thanet council issued parking fines totalling £100, 420 during July, August and September this year.

The cash was due from 4,423 dished out during the period with motorists parking in Grosvenor Place, Margate, attracting the most fines.

Between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, there were 17,181 parking charges handed out.

Of those 6,984 were paid at the reduced rate within 14 days and a further 2,560 are recorded as paid in full after the 14 days.

Appeals were made against 1,655 tickets. Sixteen were taken to the Traffic Appeals Tribunal and, of those,13 were successful.

Another 3,755 fines were either cancelled or written off.

Thanet council sent out bailiffs to collect in 1,785 cases.

In all the council collected £479,519.05 in fine money for the year.

Income from parking fees

Statistics for parking charges income show Thanet council received £2,783,810 from on and off-street parking fees for the 2016/17 financial year. This was a rise of £373,202  from the 2015/16 income of £2,410,608.

TDC’s total expenditure for the  2016/17 period was £1,218,729. For 2016/16 expenditure was £1,216,297.

The council also had a massive £91,730 rise in income from the isle’s car parks during this year’s tourist season compared to last year.

Income from the isles 24 car parks and two multi storeys from April 1- August 31 2016 was £836,575.

For the same period this year the figure was £928,305 – and this could rise if more ‘Ringo’ parking fees need accounting for.

The council also removed 153 abandoned cars during the 2016/17 financial year.

Parking charge hike

The additional income follows a rise in parking charges brought into force in April. The hike resulted in some charges rising from £1.60 for the first hour’s parking to a whopping £4.

The new fees caused an outcry with businesses saying the prices would drive away tourists. A petition was raised by Broadstairs resident Roy Irving which gained 829 signatures.

The hike to £4 for the first hour’s parking affected five seasonal car parks, with the higher rate in place from 1 April – 31 October, and one all year around car park.

In response Thanet District Council approved proposals for a new resident-only parking scheme at those seasonal car parks – although many said this did not tackle the issue of tourism being driven away.The scheme operates in Albion Street, Chandos Square, Broadstairs Harbour, and Joss Bay, Broadstairs and Marine Esplanade, Ramsgate.

The daily charge for residents is £2.50 per day, as opposed to the former daily charge of £12. Residents can buy a book of 20 vouchers for £40, which further reduces the daily charge to £2 per day.

Minor changes

At a Cabinet meeting last month some minor amendments to the parking fees scheme were agreed with Minster and Monkton car parks removed from the scheme and transferred to the parish council  and  the parking charge at Elmwood Avenue, Joss Bay and at Minnis Bay reduced from £2 per hour to £1.50 with the time the charge starts changed from 9am to 10am.

Thanet council says the revised scheme will bring in additional annual revenue of approximately £390k per year.

Parking fines and appeals

Penalty Charge Notices are either £70 or £50 depending on the contravention.  This is reduced to £35 or £25 if the penalty is paid within 14 days.

Appeals can also be made in writing to

Thanet District Council
Cecil Street
Margate
Kent CT9 1XZ

Call 01843 577000

E-mail [email protected]

2 Comments

  1. And so we know the income but, what was the cost. Yes bailiff’s fee’s are recoverable but take out all the other non recoverable costs we are left with ?

Comments are closed.