Bournemouth drivers "not legally required" to display parking ticket

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THEY installed the parking meters, hired the traffic wardens and started collecting the cash.

But it appears Bournemouth council forgot one little thing in its haste to start making money from on-street parking – making it a legal requirement for motorists to display a ticket.

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Councils accused of treating drivers like cash cows after parking fee profits soar by 15% in a year

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Councils have been accused of treating drivers as 'cash cows' after profits on parking charges soared by 15 per cent in a year 

while spending on road maintenance dropped.

Income from pay and display tickets, parking permits and fines rose by £50million to £411million in the year to the end of March 2012, figures yesterday showed.

For some local authorities the increase was far higher than the national average of 15 per cent.

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Parking charges top £1bn as council plug budgets

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Motorists are paying more than £1 billion a year for parking as councils search for new ways to earn money in the wake of government cuts, it emerged today.

Researchers found that Conservative-run councils rake in far more from parking charges than town halls under Labour.

According to research published by the opposition, households in London are spending more than £600 a year on residents' permits, meters and fines.

Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has vowed to expose what he calls a ''great council cash-cow cover-up'' by forcing authorities to publish parking revenue.

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Spot the sign for pay and display: Picture that helped driver win David and Goliath legal battle with council over a £1 parking charge

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A motorist has won a six-month legal battle after he was fined over a £1 parking fee.

John Samuels, 56, parked by a Tesco Metro store but was unaware he was liable to pay the £1 charge because the sign was obscured by a pillar.

After returning to his vehicle to find a £50 penalty notice, he scoured the car park and eventually saw a blue sign on a wall at ground level, reading: ‘This is a pay and display car park.’

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£7k overpaid by motorists into North Lincolnshire parking meters

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MOTORISTS at ticket machines handed the taxpayers in North Lincolnshire a £7,000-plus windfall last year because they had no change, it has been revealed.

The Scunthorpe Telegraph has learned that over-payments made in council-owned pay and display machines in car parks during 2011-12 amounted to £7,148.07.

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Council faces questions over car park confusion

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THE Environment Agency is to hold talks with council bosses after admitting it was unaware that the latter were still collecting parking charges on agency land.

Last week the Herald revealed that pay and display signs remain on Environment Agency property which Shepway District Council used to lease as a car park.

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