News from Westminster Labour

TV show sparks call for independent inquiry into Westminster’s parking ticket targets

Labour Councillors have called for an independent inquiry into allegations of ‘parking ticket targets’ being set by Westminster City Council’s parking contractors, revealed on the Channel 4 programme, ‘Confessions of a Traffic Warden’, broadcast on 19th November.

According to the Director of the programme, Olly Lambert, the culture of ‘high scoring’ was prevalent. He told the Daily Telegraph:

“The experience of myself and the Channel 4 production team found there was an ingrained culture at all three Westminster bases in which civil enforcement officers believed ‘high scoring’ wardens were routinely rewarded with overtime and more liucrative shifts. Only one CEO was prepared to make these allegations to camera, but many CEOs felt that this practice was rife, and many confirmed it off-camera.”

Mr Lambert told the Telegraph that Channel 4 had conducted its own private investigations which resulted in ten signed statements supporting the claims made by the CEO about the existence of ticket targets and the link between the company awarding overtime shifts to CEOs who meet the ticket target expectations.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group said:

“These are very serious allegations which need to be independently investigated as a matter of urgency. We have long suspected that the Council has covertly been operating a policy of setting parking ticket targets and the Channel 4 programme appears to confirm residents’ worst fears.

“There is huge pressure from the Council to issue more parking tickets. This year Westminster City Council has a £20 million hole in its budget, £17 million of which is attributed to the Council receiving less income from parking fines than originally predicted.”

Other news from Westminster Labour

• Labour's five point plan for fairer parking in Westminster - 15 March 2010
• 5-star dinner as Westminster's "Dinosaur" Conservatives axe hotlines - 12 March 2010
• Westminster Labour welcomes dog micro-chipping plan - 11 March 2010