Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Highways Ref No: IH09 (17/18) September 2017 Key Decision: Yes

Regulation 10 Penalty Charge Notices Part I

Report by Executive Director of Economy Electoral Infrastructure and Environment and Director of Divisions: Highways and Transport All

Summary/Recommendation

That the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Highways gives approval for the County Council to begin issuing Regulation10 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) in from the 1 September 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter, using the powers granted to the County Council under the Traffic Management Act (TMA) 2004.

1. Background and Context

1.1 Ordinarily, Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for parking contraventions are legally ‘served’ by being affixed to the vehicle concerned or being handed in person to the vehicle’s driver. In some cases, after starting to prepare the necessary documentation, the Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) is prevented from serving the PCN by the driver returning to the vehicle and driving off, or by the driver becoming abusive or threatening. Presently, PCNs which cannot be served in these circumstances are not pursued further.

1.2 Regulation 10 of the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions () General Directions 2007 (see 1.5 below) enables local authorities to serve PCNs by post in the above circumstances. PCNs served by post are therefore referred to as Regulation 10 PCNs. Those authorities currently enforcing parking controls on behalf of West Sussex County Council do not presently use Regulation 10 PCN s.

1.3 Like many local authorities, when West Sussex County Council assumed responsibility for enforcing parking restrictions from Sussex Police in 2006, it did not initially adopt Regulation 10 powers. Officers are of the view that this position should now be reviewed.

1.4 The following authorities in the southern region already issue Regulation 10 PCNs: Fareham, , , Heath, , Winchester, Bath and North East Somerset, , , , and , Reading, Dorset, Bournemouth and West .

1.5 Regulation 10 of The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007

10.—(1) An enforcement authority may serve a penalty charge notice by post where—

(a) on the basis of a record produced by an approved device, the authority has reason to believe that a penalty charge is payable with respect to a vehicle which is stationary in a civil enforcement area; (b) a civil enforcement officer attempted to serve a penalty charge notice in accordance with regulation 9 but was prevented from doing so by some person; or

(c) a civil enforcement officer had begun to prepare a penalty charge notice for service in accordance with regulation 9, but the vehicle concerned was driven away from the place in which it was stationary before the civil enforcement officer had finished preparing the penalty charge notice or had served it in accordance with regulation 9 (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), a civil enforcement officer who observes conduct which appears to constitute a parking contravention shall not thereby be taken to have begun to prepare a penalty charge notice.

2. Proposal

2.1 Approval is being sought for West Sussex County Council to start using Regulation 10 PCNs ONLY in cases where a CEO has begun to prepare a PCN for service, but the vehicle concerned is driven away before the CEO finishes preparing the PCN, or the CEO is unable to serve the PCN due to threatening behaviour.

2.2 If a vehicle is seen parked in contravention a CEO will apply the relevant observation period (this varies depending on the type of restriction involved) and then start to issue a PCN, a process which takes at least five minutes to complete

2.3 If the driver returns to the vehicle while the PCN is being prepared, the vehicle keeper’s details will be obtained from the DVLA at a later date and the PCN served by post. If a driver returns to the vehicle during the initial observation period, no PCN is issued

2.4 When a PCN is served by post all rights of appeal and access to discount periods for early payment remain exactly the same as for a PCN served in the normal way.

2.5 For clarification, it is NOT proposed at this time to adopt any powers to issue PCNs solely based on evidence gathered from automated CCTV enforcement cameras. It is considered that this could be seen by many as overzealous and such ‘faceless enforcement’ is where authorities can get accused of using parking to raise revenue. Civil Enforcement Officers do also have an educational role to play and this would be lost if solely enforcing by camera.

2.6 That said there may be circumstances, for example persistent school-gate parking issues, where camera cars could be considered in the future. If this were the case then camera car usage would be part of an overall intervention in consultation with appropriate community groups and local members. If a

need to adopt the powers for camera enforcement were identified in the future this would be done in consultation with the Cabinet Member.

3. Resources

3.1 There are minimal costs associated with the introduction of Regulation 10 PCNs, which can be contained within existing budgets.

3.2 The table below shows the number of recorded instances where a Regulation 10 postal PCN could have been issued in West Sussex in 2016 had West Sussex County Council adopted these powers. It is possible that some of the cases recorded in these figures did not include enough information to serve a Regulation 10 PCN, but the figures are still indicative of the scale of the issue involved.

Name of District/ Number of VDAs Arun 185 Chichester 242 NA (no records kept) Horsham 38 Mid Sussex 41 and Adur 568 Total 1074

3.3 The 1074 cases shown above represent approximately £37,600 in lost revenue (based on the £35 discounted rate being paid), although it should be categorically stated that the generation of additional revenue is not a motivation of officers in this respect.

3.4 Whilst it is accepted that these figures may not indicate a significant problem in West Sussex, it is considered unjust that some motorists are deliberately flouting the parking regulations by driving away before the PCN is issued, or preventing its service through threatening behaviour towards a Civil Enforcement Officer.

4. Consultation

4.1 The information contained within this report has been shared with each of six local authorities (, , Crawley Borough, , and Adur/Worthing Borough) who currently undertake parking enforcement on behalf of the County Council and met with unanimous support.

5. Risk Management Implications

5.1 CEOs may require some additional training in respect of evidence gathering but any additional training should be viewed as having a beneficial impact upon the wider parking service offered by a local authority

6. Other Options Considered

6.1 The option of not adopting these powers has been considered. It is believed the long term benefits of improving compliance with parking regulations outweigh this option

7. Equality Duty

7.1 An Equality Impact Report has been undertaken and is attached as Appendix A.

7.2 Councillors should be aware that the Equality Act 2010 bans unfair treatment and seeks equal opportunities in the workplace and in wider society. It also imposes a Public Sector Duty. The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

8. Social Value

8.1 It is envisaged that the adoption of the power to issue Regulation 10 VDA PCNs would reduce the number of PCNs evaded and improve compliance with the parking regulations in problem areas. This in turn would contribute to improving road safety, reducing public transport journey times and reducing congestion

9. Crime and Disorder Act Implications

9.1 The County Council does not consider the proposal to create any crime and disorder issues. Officers have consulted with Sussex Police, who share this view.

10. Human Rights Implications

10.1 There are not considered to be any Human Rights Act Implications

Lee Harris Matt Davey Executive Director Director Economy Infrastructure and Highways and Transport Environment

Contact:

Miles Davy, Lead Professional Parking Strategy Tel 0330 2226688

Appendices

Appendix A - Equality Impact Report

Background Papers

Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Directions 2007