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Overview of Parking Services

Parking Services consists of units responsible for different functions. They are as follows:

Call Centre Unit

This unit is responsible for the Call Centre, dealing with all in-coming calls. The calls received can relate to a number of areas which include:  

·  Penalty Charge Notices

·  Parking Permits 

·  Parking BaySuspensions

·  Abandoned Vehicles

·  Parking for Blue Badge holders

·  Vehicles that have been towed away

·  Informationregarding Signs and Lines on street

·  Controlled Parking Zone Queries

·  Pay and Display machines faults

·  Pay and Display enquiries

The Call Centre is open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm. 

The Unit also monitors and manages the contract for maintenance of all Pay and Display machines in the Borough. Our target is to ensure that at least 95% of the machines are operational during controlled hours.

Translation services

We have been registered with Language Line, to provide translation services. Language Line offer professional, trained interpreters to assist those unable to communicate effectively in English. The service is available for immediate use when help is required. 

Correspondence Unit

The unit has direct responsibility for responding to correspondence relating to decriminalised parking contraventions. The Penalty Charge Notices are issued under various legislation including the Road Traffic Act 1991 and London Local Authorities Act 1996 to 2003 for;

·        parking contraventions

·        bus lane contraventions

·        moving traffic contraventions

The Unit is also responsible for the processing and authorising of parking bay suspensions. Parking bay suspensions are requested for reasons such as; 

·        household removals

·        highways maintenance

·        major building works

·        tree cutting

·        utilities

·        special events

Finance Unit

The main roles of this unit are:

·        Processing refunds, including those for:

1.    parking permits

2.    cancelled and overpaid penalty charge notices and removed vehicles

3.    parking suspensions

4.    pay and display claims

·        Processing applications to file ‘out of time’ statutory declarations

·        Processing and maintaining applications to pay PCNs by instalments

·        Debt/Income Recovery work, including:

1.    Processing returned correspondence and tracing debtors

2.    Liaison with bailiffs

3.    Processing bounced cheques and card chargebacks (for PCNs, permits and parking suspensions)

4.    Tracing owners of foreign vehicles

5.    Identifying and targeting persistent offenders

6.    Processing DVLA paper responses

7.    Processing DVLA mismatches and ‘no trace’ results

8.    Processing of insolvency and bankruptcy cases 

·        Processing part payment reports

·        Handling payment queries and tracing missing payments

Payment by Instalments

We can argue that motorists, especially those under financial pressure, should take care to park and drive legally and not incur penalty charge notices. We can also argue that the use of normal recovery methods to pursue people in difficult financial circumstances can result in additional stress and hardship - to the individual concerned, as well as to their families. 

At Hammersmith & Fulham Parking Services, we offer a balanced approach to this dilemma. Although not required to do so by law, we will consider ‘payment instalment’ applications from people who have incurred PCNs, but who are unable to make immediate payment of these in full due to their own financial circumstances. 

If a motorist is unable to complete payment for their penalties within a reasonable period, we will consider accepting reduced payments from them, but only if they are able to provide evidence of their financial circumstances. It is a condition of our payment agreements that the motorist does not incur further penalties – doing so would result in the cancellation of their agreement.

We believe that our approach encourages those in financial difficulties to address the issues they face and to take control of their situation. This enables them to assess their income and outgoings, and to make sensible payment offers to all of their creditors. 

Abandoned vehicles and CCTV enforcement Unit

The main functions of the Unit are related to issuing Penalty Charge Notices using Closed Circuit Television and dealing with abandoned and surrendered vehicles.

We have a dedicated team who monitor traffic using CCTV and issue Penalty Charge Notices for bus lane, parking and some moving traffic offences like entering box junctions when the exit is not clear.    All the operators are accredited and work to a code of practice agreed by London Councils.

Staff from the Unit respond to reports of vehicles being abandoned on the streets and arrange for their removal and destruction where necessary. The council operates a free service to enable residents to dispose of unwanted vehicles. Staff from this unit process such requests.

Unit staff are from time to time involved in collaborative operations with the police, DVLA and other agencies designed to reduce the illegal use of motor vehicles in the borough.

Appeals unit

This unit deals with all the paperwork and evidence once an appeal has been logged with the independent adjudication service - the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS).

If the keeper of a vehicle wishes to appeal against the rejection of representations made to cancel a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), they will register an appeal with PATAS. Each local authority is sent a weekly list of appeals. The team checks the history of each PCN, printing any previous correspondence, our responses and all paperwork provided by “PATAS”. Each case is reviewed before a decision is taken on whether to submit evidence or withdraw from the case.   When assessing each case the staff take into account the issues of legality, mitigation, exemptions and proportionality.

If having reviewed the case we find we are unlikely to succeed based on available (including new) evidence or on compassionate grounds, we will not contest the case and will advise the appellant in writing. Otherwise we will prepare our case and provide copies of all relevant documents, maps, legal orders and copies of any correspondence previously received and our responses. A case summary will be compiled detailing the authorities’ reason for opposing the appeal.

Each case is heard by an independent adjudicator either by personal or postal hearing.

Decisions taken by an adjudicator are binding on both sides but the legislation allows for a review to be requested, by either party, on specific and very limited grounds.

Parking enforcement 

Under decriminalised parking the council employs parking attendants whose main duties are to patrol the streets and council car parks to enforce parking restrictions.  They issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to vehicles   contravening parking restrictions. Illegally parked vehicles that are causing an obstruction and/or engaged in anti social parking may be removed.

Parking attendants in Hammersmith and Fulham are employed by the Council. They are fully trained professionals and funded by the Council. 

The service is run entirely in-house and our parking attendants do not receive any commission based on the number of PCNs issued.

Our parking attendants carry out regular patrols throughout the Borough from Monday to Saturday, with a lesser deployment on Sundays and bank holidays. Our Parking Attendants also periodically participate in joint exercises with the police to combat crime and disorder in the borough.