Portsmouth City Council Parking Section

Annual Report
2009/10
Table of Contents

3 Foreword from Traffic and Transportation Executive

4 Customer service

4 Technical

4-5 Residents parking

5-6 Disabled badges and bays

6 Parking Investigations

Removal and disposal of vehicles

6-9 Abandoned Vehicles and statistics

9-11 Unlicensed Vehicles and statistics

12 Enforcement

Statistics, financial information and performance

12-16 Penalty notice statistics

16 Appeals

17-22 Financial performance

23 Contact Details

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Foreword from Traffic and Transportation Executive

Welcome to Portsmouth City Council’s annual parking report for the year
2009/2010.

The issue of parking in Portsmouth is an often contentious one. Along with

parking management and staff, I am committed to making sure that
whatever is done in the field of parking in Portsmouth is done with the best
interests of the community at heart.

As with most council services, we need to take into account the needs of
residents, as well as those of the visitors and the businesses that keep
Portsmouth alive and well. It is a juggling act for me as the responsible
cabinet member and the officers in the service. This report will hopefully
help you to see how we achieve this, and how in the main we are
successful.

The parking operations team does many things besides issuing penalty
charge notices, and I invite you to read more about them in the report. But
due to the very nature of parking and its enforcement remit, many of us
may well fall foul of its powers from time to time and receive a penalty. If
you do, try to remember that the staff that issued it are human and deserve
respect just as much as everybody else. I do understand the frustration of
getting a penalty, but you can appeal, and enforcement officers cannot
cancel penalties once issued, so venting your frustrations at them cannot
achieve anything.

On the subject of penalties, I would like to dispel one myth. Our parking
officers are not on a bonus system, and all income goes into the council’s
budget, to provide services for city residents. The service, like others in the
council, has challenging times ahead as we deal with a greatly reduced
budget while still meeting the needs of our residents.

I hope you find the report interesting and informative. Please feel free to
contact me or the parking operations manager, Michael Robinson, if you
would like more information or have any questions. You will find our contact
details at the back of this report.

Councillor Jason Fazackarley

Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation
Portsmouth City Council.

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CUSTOMER SERVICE

The parking office continues to open on a Saturday morning between 9am and 1pm to
assist customers who work Monday to Fridays. This is in addition to the Monday to
Friday usual office opening hours of 08.30 to 17.00 except for Wednesday when
opening is delayed by 1 hour for staff training.

Over the past year, 37,849 visitors came to the parking office, which equates to an
average of 727 visitors per week. The main reasons for visiting the office is to obtain
residents parking permits, purchase visitor scratchcards, apply for/collect Blue Badges,
and pay or appeal Penalty Charge Notices.

TECHNICAL

The technical team comprises of 9 staff as follows:

1 Supervisor
5 Technicians
1 Signage Technician
1 General Maintenance
1 Temporary General Maintenance (part of the Future Jobs Fund)

The technical team is responsible for the installation, programming and general
maintenance of the 238 on street, 54 off street pay and display machines and the pay
on foot system within the multi-storey car park.

The changeover to solar powered machines is on-going and currently 38% have been
converted.

There are now 40 machines which are credit/debit card enabled and more to come for
the future.

A purchase of a Gerber Edge FX printer and a vinyl cutter from Spandex has allowed 3
of the technicians to be able to produce signs and labels, not only for ourselves, but
other departments within Portsmouth City Council and our external customers.

The improvement of the lighting and reduction of CO2 emissions in the multi-storey car
park and other surface car parks are on-going as new technologies develop.

RESIDENTS PARKING

During the past year, the following additions and changes to residents parking schemes
took place:-

A new scheme in the Baffins area started in June 2009

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The East Cosham scheme expanded by including seven additional roads in
August 2009

Windsor Road, Cosham became a 24hr, 7days a week scheme instead of

Monday to Saturday 6am-6pm from December 2009

Portsmouth Road, Cosham reduced its free period of parking from 2hrs to 1hr in
December 2009

In December 2009 an alternative method for purchasing visitor scratchcards was

introduced in the Old Portsmouth zone. This allows the resident in the zone to register
a telephone number that they can use to purchase visitors parking for the same periods
as the visitor scratchcards are available. Between December 2009 and March 2010, a
total of 86 visitor parking sessions were booked using this method and it is hoped that
this number will continue to grow. The scheme operates through RingGo who also run
the payment for parking by mobile phone alternative in all on and off street pay and
display locations operated by the City Council.

It is planned to expand the scheme to other residents parking zones and in particular
the Fratton scheme in the next financial year.

Detailed below are the number of permits issued in the financial year, along with income
from the sale of permits and visitor scratchcards in all 28 residents parking schemes:-

10,924 residents parking permits were issued

930 business parking permits were issued

£160,000 was received from the sale of residents & business parking permits,
including those that were reissued due to change of vehicle

£176,000 was received from the sale of visitor scratchcards in all residents
parking schemes

Visitor parking scratchcards are also available from a number of additional outlets
based in residents parking schemes such as Libraries, Sub Post-Offices and City
Council Housing offices, which ensures the residents can quickly and easily obtain their
visitor scratchcards.

DISABLED BADGES & BAYS

Blue Badges are valid for a period of 3 years and during the past year a total of 3,621
Blue Badges were issued, bringing the overall total of valid blue badges issued by the
City Council to just fewer than 10,000. Just over 1,500 of those issued last year were
automatically eligible for a badge and did not need a GP referral.

Department for Transport guidance recommends an independent medical assessment

is undertaken, rather than the applicant’s GP providing the information to assess
whether an individual is eligible for a Blue Badge. As a result a report was taken to the
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City Council’s Cabinet Meeting in March 2010 which agreed an independent
assessment is adopted and it is hoped this will be in place sometime in the next
financial year.

At the end of March 2010, there were a total of 1,742 residential disabled bays in place
across the City, with 305 bays being installed in the past year. A total of 511
applications forms were sent out with 326 forms returned, only 21 applications were
unsuccessful.

We removed 193 disabled bays, which were no longer required and 68 bays were
repainted. Two Traffic Regulation Orders were made which resulted in 309 disabled
parking bays being upgraded to enforceable bays.

As an alternative to leaving the individual’s blue badge in their vehicle all the time it is
parked in an enforceable residential disabled bay, we offer an alternative permit,
specific to a resident’s vehicle and during the past year 752 of these were
issued/renewed.

PARKING INVESTIGATIONS

The Parking Investigations Officer received 155 reports of mis-use of Blue Badges. All
the reports have been investigated with 94 of these badges being withdrawn. The
reasons for withdrawal being 6 deceased, 27 expired, 27 low level mis-use, 29
organisational reviews and 6 counterfeit.

The remaining 44 reports had no further action taken being incorrect reporting or
neighbour disputes.

Where mis-use has been regarded as low level, e.g. parked in contravention, 31 formal
warnings were issued with details being recorded on the Si-Dem Disabled Badge
module.

5 cases are with PCC Legal Services for consideration with one further being compiled.
11 cases are currently open, pending investigation.

REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL OF VEHICLES

ABANDONED VEHICLES - Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978

There were 1,494 reports of abandoned vehicles resulting in 1,402 of these being
assessed as not abandoned or not at location.

92 of these vehicles were removed resulting in 13 being returned to registered the

keeper and the remaining 78 being scrapped in accordance with the Refuse Disposal
(Amenity) Act 1978

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This service cost £44,147 for the year and resulted in revenue from sale of parts, scrap
and auction a sum of £14,278.

ABANDONED VEHICLES REPORT

01/04/2009 - 31/03/2010
Gone or Private
Month Reports Removed Burnt Out Wrecked
Taxed Landowner
April 139 11 128 0 3 0
May 144 9 135 0 0 0
June 124 4 120 0 0 0
July 121 9 112 1 1 1
August 121 11 110 2 2 2
September 119 6 113 3 0 1
October 114 8 106 2 0 2
November 128 5 123 1 1 0
December 98 6 92 0 2 1
January 110 9 101 3 0 0
February 122 6 116 0 0 1
March 154 8 146 1 1 0
TOTALS 1494 92 1402 13 10 8

ABANDONED VEHICLES DATA STREAM

01/04/2006 - 31/03/2010
2006-2007 Removed 2007-2008 Removed 2008-2009 Removed 2009-2010 Removed
April 50 April 30 April 26 April 11
May 35 May 33 May 19 May 9
June 44 June 32 June 18 June 4
July 35 July 16 July 9 July 9
August 42 August 27 August 12 August 11
September 37 September 30 September 18 September 6
October 51 October 24 October 15 October 8
November 60 November 25 November 13 November 5
December 26 December 21 December 12 December 6
January 43 January 21 January 8 January 9
February 31 February 16 February 7 February 6
March 39 March 14 March 6 March 8
TOTALS 493 TOTALS 289 TOTALS 163 TOTALS 92

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Abandoned Vehicles by Data Stream

BEST VALUE INDICATORS

01/04/2009 - 31/03/2010
Removed
Visited within
Month Reports Removed within 24
24 hours
hours
April 139 134 11 9
May 146 138 9 8
June 124 118 4 4
July 121 102 9 9
August 121 117 11 11
September 119 116 6 6
October 114 109 8 8
November 128 123 5 3
December 98 91 6 5
January 110 102 9 8
February 122 118 6 6
March 154 150 8 7
TOTALS 1496 1418 92 84

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 BV218a
Percentage of new reports of abandoned vehicles investigated
withing 24 hours of notification.
Cumulative Target = 87.00%

April May June July August September

96.40% 95.44% 95.35% 92.83% 92.83% 93.55%

October November December January February March

94.34% 94.57% 94.41% 94.26% 94.49% 94.79%

BV218b
Percentage of abandoned vehicles removed within 24 hours
from the point at which the Authority is legally entitled to
remove the vehicle.
Cumulative Target = 90.00%

April May June July August September

81.82% 85.00% 87.50% 90.91% 93.18% 94.00%

October November December January February March

94.83% 92.06% 91.30% 91.03% 91.67% 91.30%

UNTAXED VEHICLES

DVLA Devolved Powers – The Vehicle Excise Duty (Immobilisation, Removal and
Disposal Of Vehicles) Regulation 1997

Resulting from the abandoned vehicle reports 248 of these were removed for no valid
tax resulting in 95 being returned to the registered keepers and 144 being scrapped as
the registered keepers were not found or the vehicle was assigned to PCC on behalf of
the DVLA. (It must be noted that all reports are initially investigated as abandoned
vehicles).

This service cost £56,860 for the year and resulted in a revenue from sale of parts,
scrap and auction a sum of £26,640.

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 REMOVAL OF UNTAXED VEHICLES
01/04/2009 - 31/03/2010
Month Removed Returns Scrapped Storage
April 34 7 27 0
May 20 8 12 0
June 17 7 10 0
July 20 10 10 0
August 20 7 13 0
September 21 7 14 0
October 18 6 12 0
November 19 10 9 0
December 10 4 6 0
January 18 10 8 0
February 20 5 15 0
March 31 14 8 9
TOTALS 248 95 144 9

DVLA REMOVALS DATA STREAM

01/04/2006 - 31/03/2010
2006-2007 Removed 2007-2008 Removed 2008-2009 Removed 2009-2010 Removed
April 21 April 15 April 25 April 34
May 29 May 13 May 31 May 20
June 24 June 27 June 13 June 17
July 20 July 11 July 23 July 19
August 19 August 22 August 16 August 20
September 0 September 21 September 25 September 21
October 0 October 19 October 56 October 18
November 0 November 3 November 26 November 20
December 0 December 13 December 56 December 10
January 17 January 25 January 47 January 18
February 18 February 32 February 34 February 20
March 20 March 20 March 39 March 31
TOTALS 168 TOTALS 221 TOTALS 391 TOTALS 248

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DVLA Removals by Data Stream

CLE/26 Issue 2009-2010

ExciseOffence Reports for DVLA served on untaxed vehicles by Civil
Enforcement Officers and Vehicle Removal Officers

April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Total
68 55 41 36 47 33 31 35 21 35 37 53 492

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ENFORCEMENT

Priorities

1. Road safety. This has an emphasis on the most vulnerable members of our
community. Children outside schools, disabled people accessing public transport for
example.

2. Traffic Flow. This is to reduce and prevent congestion. One poorly parked vehicle can
cause significant delays to cars, cyclists and public transport.

3. Revenue protection. The councils pay and display income makes an important
contribution to the council’s budget. That income has to be protected by strict
enforcement of pay and display areas.

4. Residents Parking. Enforcement ensures that Resident Parking Zones work

effectively to make residents and their visitors adhere to strict rules and thus precluding
others such as commuters using residential parking provision.

The enforcement team comprises of 52 staff as follows:

3 Supervisors
3 Senior CEO’s
4 Traffic Management Centre
41 CEO’s (2 on secondment)
1 Vehicle Removal Officer
1 Parking Investigations Officer

PARKING SUSPENSIONS

There were 169 requests for suspensions on pay and display or residents controlled
zones covering 1,912 days. These suspensions ranged from 1 day skip placement to 62
days for highways related maintenance.

This service cost £6,475 for the year and resulted in a revenue of £12,548.

It must be noted that charges were for signage manufacture, placement and inspection
not for lost income.

PENALTY CHARGE NOTICES

In the financial year 2009/10, 44,020 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued,
which was an increase of just under 500 from the previous year, which suggests
enforcement is continuing at a similar level. Note should be made that for 10 days
during January 2010 no enforcement took place due to the heavy snowfall and slow
subsequent thaw.

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With regard to recovery figures, to date 32,694, which equates to 74.27% of the PCNs
issued in the past financial year, have been paid and recovery is still ongoing on
outstanding charges. This equates to £1,187,522.70 and includes some part paid
cases which are being paid on instalment plans.

Of these 44,020 PCNs, the breakdown between higher and lower rate contraventions is
as follows:-

Higher Rate Contraventions 09/10

Number Issued Recovery Average recovery per PCN

19,905 £649,441.44 £32.63

Lower Rate Contraventions 09/10

Number Issued Recovery Average recovery per PCN

24,115 £538,081.26 £22.31

The above recovery figures are comparable to last year and should increase slightly as
11.36% of cases are still open and ongoing.

PCN BREAKDOWN BY CONTRAVENTION

HIGHER RATE PCNS ON-STREET

CODE CONTRAVENTION DESCRIPTION NUMBER

ISSUED
01 Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours 13412
02 Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street 1088
where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are
in force
12 Parked in a residents or shared use parking place 116
without clearly displaying either a permit or voucher or
pay and display ticket issued for that place
16 Parked in a permit space without displaying a valid 162
permit
21 Parked in a suspended bay or space or part of bay or 1002
space
23 Parked in a parking place or area not designed for 34
that class of vehicle
25 Parked in a loading place during restricted hours 426
without loading
26 Parked in a special enforcement area more than 79
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 50cm or other specified distance from the edge of the
carriageway and not within a designated parking
place
27 Parked adjacent to a dropped footway 639
40 Parked in a designated disabled persons parking 892
place without clearly displaying a valid disabled
persons badge
42 Parked in a parking place designed for police vehicles 5
45 Parked on a taxi rank 668
46 Stopped where prohibited (on a red route or 2
clearway)
47 Stopped on a restricted bus stop or stand 634
48 Stopped in a restricted area outside a school 159
55 A commercial vehicle parked in a restricted street in 6
contravention of the overnight waiting ban
99 Stopped on a pedestrian crossing or crossing area 67
marked by zig-zags
TOTAL 19391

HIGHER RATE PCNS OFF-STREET

CODE CONTRAVENTION DESCRIPTION NUMBER

ISSUED
74 Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with 2
the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods
when prohibited
81 Parked in a restricted area in a car park 6
85 Parked in a permit bay without clearly displaying a 426
valid permit
87 Parked in a designated disabled persons parking 38
space without displaying a valid disabled persons
badge
89 Vehicle parked exceeds maximum weight or height or 1
length permitted in the area
91 Parked in a car park or area not designated for that 41
class of vehicle
TOTAL 514

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LOWER RATE PCNS ON-STREET

CODE CONTRAVENTION DESCRIPTION NUMBER

ISSUED
05 Parked after the expiry of paid for time 1397
06 Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display 3655
ticket or voucher
22 Re-parked in the same parking place or zone within 617
one hour or other specified time of leaving
24 Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or 76
space
30 Parked for longer than permitted 12119
TOTAL 17864

LOWER RATE PCNS OFF-STREET

CODE CONTRAVENTION DESCRIPTION NUMBER

ISSUED
82 Parked after the expiry of paid for time 2187
83 Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid 3740
pay and display ticket or voucher or parking clock
86 Parked beyond the bay markings 319
95 Parked in a parking place for a purpose other than 5
the designated purpose for the parking place
TOTAL 6251

PCN BY FINANCIAL YEAR 2005-2010

50000
45000
40000
TOTAL NUMBER ISSUED
35000
30000
TOTAL PAID
25000
20000
15000 TOTAL CANCELLED ON
10000 APPEAL
5000
0
2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

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Comparison figures against previous year’s performance are detailed below:-

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

TOTAL NUMBER ISSUED 43422 35982 37372 43534 44020
TOTAL PAID 31415 27107 28545 33649 32694
TOTAL CANCELLED ON APPEAL 4239 3179 3313 4039 4453
TOTAL PAID AS % 72.35 75.33 76.38 77.29 74.27
TOTAL CANCELLED ON APPEAL AS % 9.76 8.83 8.86 9.28 10.12

APPEALS

During the year 7,680 informal challenges and 1,749 formal representations were
received. Of these 4,453 cases were cancelled on appeal, which as a percentage
against total PCN’s issued is 10.12%, which is a slight increase on last year’s
cancellation figures. A total of 119 cases were taken to the independent adjudication
service, Traffic Penalty Tribunal, during the year and the results are as follows:-

Appeals dismissed - 73
Appeals allowed - 41
Awaiting decision - 5

The number of cases as a percentage going to independent adjudication was 0.27%,

which shows an increase of 0.09% but still remains at a low level of appeal.

The positive performance figures suggest good quality Penalty Charge Notices, along
with prompt and careful consideration of appeals.

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FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

OFF STREET PARKING

Total Budget Actual to

Variance
BUDGET HEADING 2009/10 March 2010

EXPENDITURE

Employees 425,589 436,323 -10,734

Premises 279,900 433,300 -153,400
Transport 19,050 13,055 5,995
Supplies and Services 154,034 139,746 14,288
Agency and Third Party Payments 84,895 87,557 -2,662
Transfer Payments 3,201 14,736 -11,535
Recharges 0 265 -265

INCOME

Reimbursements 0 -614 614

Fees and Charges -2,015,000 -1,845,088 -169,912
Season Tickets -445,500 -447,182 1,682
PCN Income -321,000 -281,132 -39,868
Miscellaneous Income -9,500 -4,515 -4,985
Recovered Rechargeable Costs -201,000 -222,462 21,462

Totals -2,025,331 -1,676,011 -349,320

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ON STREET PARKING

Actual to
Total Budget
March Variance
2009/10
BUDGET HEADING 2010

EXPENDITURE

Employees 1,837,503 1,830,807 -6,696

Premises 124,512 119,166 -5,346
Transport 60,470 51,982 -8,488
Supplies and Services 559,543 517,237 -42,306
Agency and Third Party Payments 44,450 40,785 -3,665
Transfer Payments 550,000 0 -550,000
Departmental Recharges 40,667 41,201 534

INCOME

Reimbursements 0 -727 -727

Sales 0 -8,128 -8,128
Fees and Charges -1,706,000 -1,854,340 -148,340
Season Tickets -340,000 -397,943 -57,943
PCN Income -1,140,000 -1,284,484 -144,484
Miscellaneous Income -114,500 -137,706 -23,206
Recovered Rechargeable Costs -19,000 -32,440 -13,440

Total -102,355 -1,114,590 -1,012,235

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ABANDONED VEHICLES

Total
Actual to
Budget Variance
March 2010
BUDGET HEADING 2009/10

EXPENDITURE

Employees 54,907 25,949 28,958

Premises 7,500 7,602 -102
Transport 4,010 3,432 578
Supplies and Services 2,740 3,125 -385
Agency and Third Party Payments 11,730 4,339 7,391

INCOME

Reimbursements 0 -125 125

Fees and Charges 0 -2,183 2,183
Sale of Vehicles (Scrap/Auction) -11,150 -1,377 -9,773
PCN Income -9,060 -1,859 -7,201
Recovered Rechargeable Costs -11,100 -8,734 -2,366

Totals 49,577 30,169 19,408

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UNLICENSED VEHICLES

Total
Actual to
Budget Variance
March 2010
BUDGET HEADING 2009/10

EXPENDITURE

Employees 35,285 35,285 0

Premises 7,595 7,595 0
Supplies and Services 1,270 1,270 0
Agency and Third Party Payments 12,710 12,710 0

INCOME

Reimbursements -712 -712 0

Sale of Vehicles (Scrap/Auction) -7,846 -7,846 0
Fees and Charges (Storage, etc) -15,480 -15,480 0
Miscellaneous Income -2,602 -2,602 0

Totals 30,220 30,220 0

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BLUE BADGES AND
DISABLED BAYS

Total Budget Actual to

Variance
BUDGET HEADING 2009/10 March 2010

EXPENDITURE

Employees 31,515 31,515 0

Premises 30,532 30,532 0
Transport 44 44 0
Supplies and Services 12,042 12,042 0
Agency and Third Party Payments 239 239 0
Transfer Payments 0 0 0

INCOME

Fees and Charges -302 -302 0

Permits -1,994 -1,994 0

Totals 72076 72076 0

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 OFF STREET PARKING RESERVE AS AT 31/03/2010

2009/10 Opening Reserve Balance (1,661,234)

1 2009/10 On Street Parking Net Operating Surplus (1,017,728)

2009/10 Calls on Reserve

2 Update of parking meters Chip & Pin 40,156
3 Appropriation from Parking Reserve into Highways PFI 200,000
Reserve
4 Contribution to Transport for South Hampshire 100,000
5 Transfer to General Fund to offset shortfall in Off Street 418,474
parking income and other overspends
6 Transfer to General Fund (On-Street Parking Savings) 117,900
2009/10 Closing Reserve Balance (1,802,432)

Net Increase of 141,198

1 This is the operating surplus from the On Street Parking

Operation
2 This is expenditure relating to the ongoing upgrade of
parking meters to chip and pin technology. This is part of a
planned ongoing programme
3 This is a contribution for the ongoing costs of the Highways
maintenance contract.
4 This is a PCC contribution towards the Transport for South
Hampshire model of working. This is a collaborative
approach to developing a sub regional transport strategy

5 The cash limit for the T&T portfolio was overspent as a result
of shortfall of parking income and other service overspends.
It was approved to fund this overspend from the Off Street
Parking reserve.
6 As part of the annual budget savings exercise, savings have
been put forward that are generated from the On Street
Parking operation. This sum of money reflects the savings
that have been accepted.

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CONTACT DETAILS

Contact Tel. No. E-Mail

Parking 023 9268 8310 parking@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Parking Forum n/a parkingforum@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Abandoned Vehicles 023 9268 8284 abveng@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Unlicensed Vehicles 023 9268 8284 abveng@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Blue Badges Team 023 9268 8710 bluebadge@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Disabled Bays 023 9268 8304 DisabledBays@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Blue Badge Fraud 023 9268 8310 bluebadgefraud@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Traffic Management 023 9268 8289/90 tmcoperators@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Centre

Michael Robinson
Team Manager,
Parking Operations Michael.Robinson@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Cllr Fazackarley
(T & T Executive) Cllr.Jason.Fazackarley@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

If you would like to comment on this report or any aspect of parking please e-mail the
Parking Forum - parkingforum@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Your comments will be placed on the public Parking Forum.

If you wish to keep your comments confidential please e-mail to Parking -

parking@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

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