& Liverpool City Council Parking Services Annual Report 1* April 2008 - 31°* March 2009Contents Foreword 2. Aims and Objectives 3. Local Context 3.1. Working with the local community 3.2 Devolution Agenda 3.3 Civil Enforcement Officers 3.4 — Residential & Business Parking Schemes 4. Disabled Persons Blue Badge Scheme 4.1 Tackling abuse of the scheme 5. Improving our Service 5.1 New Pay and Display machines 5.2 _ Introduction of Bus Lane Enforcement 5.3 Pay by Phone Parking 6. Customer Service 61 Have Your Say Table 1 - response times Comments and Suggestions Complaints 6.2. Freedom of Information Requests Table 2: Penalty Charge Notices Table 3: Cancellation of Penalty Charge Notice Table 4: Appeals to the Independent Parking Adjudicator Table 5: Penalty Charge Notices not challenged Table 6: Financial Information Income and Expenditure Financial Objectives Glossary Page NN oamen. & wane 11 12 12 13, 14 14 141 Executive Member Foreword Thank you for taking the time to read this, our first annual report on the activities of the City Council's Parking Service during 2008/09 Itis a fact both nationally and locally that the demand for parking spaces far outstrips the availability of kerb space. A safe and efficient road network is essential to support the economic growth of our city. Our Parking Service aims to increase compliance with parking restrictions through the effective implementation of Civil Parking Enforcement to improve greater accessibility and balance the competing demands for kerb space of: residents, businesses visitors to the city, pedestrians, delivery vehicles, public transport, motorists and cyclists. This competing demand also needs to be balanced with the duty on the City Council to keep traffic moving, by taking measured enforcement action to address unsafe and inconsiderate parking, to bring about improved road safety, whilst also improving the local environment, improving the accessibility and reliability of public transport and meeting the needs of disabled persons, some of whom will not be able to use public transport systems and will depend entirely on the use of a car. We are committed to operating our parking enforcement activities in a fair, consistent and transparent manner. We are happy to provide information in a range of alternative formats or languages to meet the needs of all of our customers. If you have any questions that are not answered in this report please contact us at the address below or by contacting 0151 233 3011. Liverpool City Council Parking Services PO Box 981 Liverpool L69 1B Pa services@liverpoo! Cllr Peter Millea Executive Member Assets and Development2. Our Aims and Objectives A safe and efficient road network is essential to support the economic growth of our city. The council’s Parking Service aims to increase compliance with parking restrictions through the effective implementation in a fair, transparent, accurate manner of Civil Parking Enforcement to improve greater accessibility and reconciling the competing demands for kerb space of: Residents Shops Businesses Visitors, especially near to tourist attractions, Pedestrians Delivery Vehicles Buses, Taxis, Private hire vehicles and coaches Cars, Motor Bikes, Cyclists Our objective through effective enforcement is to-: contribute to the delivery of the Local Transportation Plan; to assist in reduction of car related crime; enforcement of school entrances, match day parking, disabled persons parking provision and yellow line waiting restrictions and paid for parking provision; to manage resident and business issued parking permits city wide; to work in partnership with a number of other enforcement agencies and internal service area's contributing towards the delivery of safer stronger communities and reduction in car related crime; To support and advise on a_range of traffic management and crowd control requirements, during special and community events, for both internal and external event organiser’s city wide; Contribute to the improvement in air quality and the reduction of CO2 by improving traffic flow. 3. Local Context 3.1 Working with the Local Community Civil Enforcement Officers play an active role in neighbourhood Respect weeks. The aim of Respect ‘campaigns are to develop and build a stronger and RESPECT More co-ordinated approach to tackling anti-social behaviour and associated environmental problems within communities. The Respect programme brings together a wide variety of agencies and organisations who, with the help of local residents, tackle a host of crime and environmental issues including parking Give respect Get respect enrorcoment 43.2 Devolution Agenda Actively engaging local people and communities in the delivery of services is a key part of the City Council's devolution agenda and central to delivering its corporate aim to ‘develop our communities’ During 2008, the City Council reviewed and refreshed its neighbourhood governance arrangements to ensure that they are capable of responding flexibly to community needs and the Government's wide-ranging community empowerment ambitions. Parking Services are one of the Business Units chosen to pilot, with pariners, this devolution process. We will commit dedicated senior officers to act as main points of contact to ensure lines of communication are continually open and mutually agreed actions are implemented. 3.3 Civil Enforcement Officers (CEO’s) The main duty of a Civil Enforcement Officer is to ensure parking controls are observed and enforced in a fair, accurate and consistent approach. Where a CEO establishes a vehicle is parked in contravention of the regulations a Penalty Chare Notice may be issued. CEO's deliver the City Councils parking enforcement activities city wide. This typically involves the enforcement of all waiting restrictions as required, through a range of planned and reactive activities in response to. requests from our residents, businesses, elected members, community based agencies and emergency services. Our CEO's also support our partners and other enforcement agencies in the delivery of safer stronger communities and reduction in car related crime. In addition to their enforcement duties CEO's are also part of the City Councils eyes and ears on the ground and will report on a range of other parking controls related matters for example: checking and reporting defective traffic signs and road markings; issuing information leaflets or warning notices; provision of witness statement informing police of criminal parking activity; reporting of suspected abandoned vehicles; reporting untaxed vehicles to DVLA; assisting with on street parking enforcement surveys reporting non-mobile objects in parking places (skips advertising trailers) to allow checks on compliance with the councils licence arrangement;3.4 Resident & Business Parking Schemes Controlled Parking Zones We operate a number of Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) in the city. A CPZ is an area where all on-street parking is controlled. When you enter a zone there's an entry sign to tell you what restrictions apply within it. When you are in a zone, parking is only allowed in parking bays and yellow line restrictions apply. We don't put signs on each street outlining the yellow line restrictions as these are stated on the entry signs that you see when you enter the zone. There are two types of Residents Parking Zones which allow greater parking controls for the benefit of local residents — the Outer Controlled Parking Zone on the outskirts of the city centre and the Football Match Parking Zone. The Business Parking Permit Area (Inner Controlled Parking Zone) is another Controlled Parking Zone to allow greater control for the. benefit of local businesses. The resident parking schemes around both Liverpool Football Club and Everton Football Club stadiums is one of the biggest resident parking schemes in the country. Because these stadiums are based in residential areas, football fans parking their cars indiscriminately on the roadside, cause significant problems for residents, road users and pedestrians on match days. The Football match Parking Zone has therefore, been set up to help reduce these problems. The Football Match Parking Zone is designed to provide parking spaces for residents living in the area. Residents within the zone are eligible to apply for a resident parking permit and a visitor permit.4. Disabled Persons Blue Badge Scheme Parking Services has the responsibilty to deliver the Blue Badge Scheme. The Blue Badge scheme, was introduced in 1972 and provides a range of parking benefits for disabled people with severe walking difficulties who travel either as drivers or passengers. It also applies to the registered blind and people with certain upper limb disabilities. The badge is issued for a period of 3 years. If you are issued with a blue badge you will also be issued with a parking disc (clock) and an explanatory booklet, Blue Badge holders are not allowed to park in loading bans. As the value of parking has increased so too has the value of the parking concessions the blue badge scheme provides to holders of a badge. Unfortunately there are ‘some people who are selfish enough to misuse the blue badge of others to gain free or concessionary parking provision. Badge holders and motorists are particularly concerned about abuse of the scheme through theft, forgery, or borrowing of disabled badges by non-disabled people. The City Council are committed to preventing this and take a very active approach to the detection of abuse of the scheme. Our approach to tackling abuse in partnership with Merseyside Police and other enforcement agencies has been recognised nationally as best practice. In 2008/09 Parking Services in partnership with Merseyside Police conducted a number of Blue Badge Misuse operations the outcome of one such operation around the football grounds for example resulted in the following ~ -23 persons prosecuted for driving whilst using mobile phone; -22 persons prosecuted for misuse of blue badge; -12 vehicles seized for no insurance: ~10 persons prosecuted for non wearing of seat belt; - 4 persons arrested for theft from motor vehicles 2 of these were prolific offenders; - 1 Taxi seized due to being unroadworthy with a further 6 Taxi drivers being prosecuted for other offences.5. Improving our Service 5.1 New Pay and Display Machines 7 7 Nm —_In 2008 the City Council replaced the majority of its pay and display machines both on and off street. Alll of our off street car parks and some of our on street machines are now able to take payment by both coin and credit card. All of our pay and display machines are supported by a web based back office interface which alerts us to any defects that the machines have for example coin jams, ticket jams and machines not in service. This live information has allowed us to significantly reduce machine down time and provide a quicker response time to repair machines. The new machines are extremely reliable resulting in increased customer satisfaction. 5.2 Introduction of Bus Lane Enforcement ‘The Merseyside Local Transport Plan 2008-2011 sets out aspirations for encouraging the use of alternative modes of transport including public transport and one of its commitments is to make Merseyside a barrier free travel environment for all, particularly disabled travellers and recognising support that specific transport measures can bring. As bus travel is one of the most common forms of public transport the introduction of bus lane enforcement will make the use of public transport more efficient, and reduce journey times. This will in turn encourage motorist to use a more environmentally friendly mode of transport. Bus Lane Enforcement through the use of CCTV cameras will be introduced early 2010, initially in the city centre at St John’s Lane, Old Haymarket, Lime Street and the Strand close to James Street station. These are 24 hour Bus Lanes with restricted access to Authorised Vehicles, Taxi’s and pushbikes. 5.3 Pay by Phone Parking. Parking Services are currently evaluating the introduction of ‘pay by phone’ parking. There are currently 204 pay and display machines within the city centre and a number of these machines have an additional facility to pay by credit/debit card. Payment by phone is a service that enables all customers who wish, when paying for parking, to use a mobile phone to pay via debit and credit card instead of other current payment methods, This is an additional option that will run alongside current payment methods. Extending parking time (subject to max stay limits) can be done by mobile phone, anywhere, without the need to return to parked vehicles. The service can be done with a live operator, via text message, online in advance or by an automated service.6. Customer Contact As well as being responsible for enforcing parking restrictions, Parking Services are also responsible for the management of the various Residents Parking Schemes operating in Liverpool and the Disabled Persons’ Blue Badge Scheme. We can respond to information requests relating to all parking issues through the Councils One Stop Shops or by contacting Liverpool Direct, Limited on 0151 233 3011 Useful information in addition to this Annual Report is also available via the Liverpool City Council website at www.liverpool.gov.uk. You can also contact us by writing to: Parking Services Liverpool City Council PO Box 981 Liverpool Leo 18 6.1 Have Your Say Parking Services welcome all communication from the public. The City Council's Have Your Say process is the council's scheme for dealing with comments, compliments and complaints about the services it provides. Have Your Say forms and information regarding how the scheme works are available from the City Council's website at www.liverpool.gov.uk , local libraries, sports centres and One Stop Shops or by writing to Liverpool Direct, FREEPOST, NWW 340A, Liverpool, L1 32Z. Parking Services received 210 Have Your Say Comments, Complaints or Compliments during 2008/09. Table 1 Response times for Have Your Says. Number of days the Have Your Say was responded to: 0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 30+ * not upheld The main reason for a delay in responding is to seek further clarification on the issues raised.Have Your Say Comments/suggestions Implemented “Not Implemented Following the suggestions raised we have changed the way we either provide information or the way in which we do things for example we have amended our parking Internet pages to make navigation around easier, we have supplied maps of parking spaces including Blue Badge spaces and in one particular case we expanded time limitations for a visitor's pass to assist an additional carer to support a severely ill, new born baby. Have Your Say Complaints Not Upheld lm Partly Upheld =) Upheld Complaints about the service we provide are also welcome as it gives us the opportunity to examine and improve our service. Generally the majority of the complaints we receive relate to the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice, which are redirected to the statutory parking ticket appeal process. We take all complaints seriously and try to bring them to a mutually satisfactory conclusion, and were appropriate using the outcome of complaints to help inform future improvements to our service delivery. 6.2 Freedom of Information Requests The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was created to provide a more open and transparent accessibility to information held by public bodies. Requests must be in writing and the council have 20 working days to comply with the request. There are twenty three exemptions. These exemptions are either absolute or conditional — the latter requiring the consideration of a Public Interest Test. Requests are generally financial or the number of Penalty Charge Notice’s issued or requests for information relating to appealing a Penalty Charge Notice. 10Table 2 Penalty Charge Notice statistics Total Penally Charge Nolices issued, eae ae ‘Number of Penalty Charges Notices Paid ‘Number of Penalty Charge Notices paid at discount rate, ‘Number of Penalty Charge Notices against which an Informal/Formal Representation made. Number of Penalty Charge Notices cancelled as a result of an informaliformal Representation Numer of Higher Level Penalty Charge Notices Issued Number of Lower Level Penally Charge Notices Issued ‘Number of Higher Level | | Penalty Charge Notices Issued lumber of Low er Level Penalty Charge Notices Issued itTable 3 Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) cancellations Following the issue of a PCN the recipient has the opportunity to appeal its issue. There are nine statutory grounds for cancellation of a PCN; in addition to the statutory grounds for appeal the City Council will also consider compelling reasons why in the particular circumstances of the case it should cancel the PCN. The City Council may exercise its discretion and cancel a PCN, at any stage of the appeal process. This table shows the reasons and the number of cases in 2008/09 that Penalty Charge Notices were cancelled at both these stages. Statutory Grounds established Exercise of Councils discretion [1 Statutory Grounds. established Exercise of Councis dscraton Appeals to independent Parking Adjudicator Table 4 At this stage of the appeal process the independent Adjudicator will consider the evidence submitted by the appellant and the City Council. The chart below highlights the numbers of Penalty Charge Notice's that were allowed, dismissed or not challenged by the City Council. ee 124 | Alow ed by Aqjucator 174 |mpsmsses 1D Not Challenged by City eal Council The total number of Appeals to the independent adjudicator for 2008/09 was 560. The discrepancy in the total figure is a result of not all appeal cases that were submitted, being dealt with through the adjudicating system within that period of time. 12Table 5 Penalty Notices Not Challenged at Adjudication Once appellants lodge an appeal at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) the City Council often receives additional information. When reviewing this additional information the council may decide to cancel the PCN; either because the statutory grounds for cancelling a PCN have been established; or further compelling information has been provided that had the council had this, information earlier it would have exercised its discretion. These decisions are reported to the adjudicator and show as the council not challenging (no contest) the PCN at appeal stage. The following table indicates the reason and the number of cases involved for 2008/09. Reason Siatutory Grounds established Exercise of Councils discretion Total 1B Statutory Grounds established 19 Bxercise of Councils discretion 13Table 6 Income for 2008 / 2009 ‘On Street Income ‘Management Recharge Total Income: BOF Sreatineone| |m On Steet ncome| |GPCN Income [EWanagerent Recharge Rens Expenditure for 2008 / 2009 Services Total Capital Charges Total Central Total pe | | oTeansport Total | asupples Total a LA mSerices Teal ‘Capital Charges Total ‘Cental Tota LoL craves | Givil Parking Enforcement Financial Objectives Surplus revenue from our enforcement activities, £2,670,934.72 are directed towards improving the traffic network infrastructure, provision of traffic calming measures, improving pedestrian access and improving the councils parking provision. 14GLOSSARY BB Blue Badge ‘The Blue Badge Scheme provides a range of parking concessions for people with severe mobility problems who have difficulty using public transport. The badge enables holders to park close to where they need to go. CEO Civil Enforcement Officer This is the designated name given by the Traffic Management Act 2004 to hose officers engaged by councils to issue Penalty Charge Notices, Contravention This refers to a breach of parking and an accompanying code will qualify the contravention, CPZ Controlled Parking Zone This is an area were parking is restricted between 8am and 6pm to manage the needs ofthe residents and other motorists. DPE Decriminalised Parking Enforcement This isthe process whereby local authorities take up enforcement powers from the police. Enforcement ‘Within the realms of Parking ‘enforcement’ activity by the council covers that of parking controls and decriminalised traffic contraventions FMPZ Football Match Parking Zone This is an area surrounding both Everton and Liverpoo''s football grounds were parking permits are available to residents to help protect residents on metch days. ICPZ Inner Controlled Parking Zone This is a designated area were parking permits are available to protect residents in heavily congested areas. LDL Liverpool Direct Limited Loading Ban Area marked with either single or double yellow lines from the pavement to the road to restrict parking in peak times to ‘engure traffic congestion is kept to a minimum. A single line restrictions will be indicated on a time plate but a double yellow line will indicate no parking at all NTO Notice to Owner This is a statutory notice served by the authority to the person they believe is the owner of a vehicle that has been issued with a Penalty Charge Notice that has remained unpaid after 28 days. Off Street Parking Off street parking facilities are those within car parks. On Street Parking On Street parking facilities are those by the kerbside. OCPZ Outer Controlled Parking Zone This is a statutory notice served by the authority to the person they believe is the owner of a vehicle that has been issued with @ Penalty Charge Notice that has remained unpaid after 28 days. 15OSS One Stop Shop Aone stop shop is a council building, situated within @ community where Liverpool citizens can speak to a customer services adviser in person, P&D Pay and Display This is a means of paying for a parking space either on-street or off-street via inserting a method of payment and receiving 2 ticket to clearly display in the motor vehicle. PCN Penalty Charge Notice This is a notice issued because a vehicle has allegedly contravened a parking regulation. Representation A representation is a challenge against a Penalty Charge Notice after a Notice to Owner has been issued. ‘TPT Traffic Penalty Tribunal TRO Traffic Regulation Order 16