Fleets are saving thousands of pounds thanks to an initiative to reduce the number of parking tickets being issued in London.

Councils across the capital have doubled the permitted loading time from 20 to 40 minutes for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.

But Fleet News has discovered that after lobbying the City of Westminster, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the council is now considering extending the scheme to include all commercial vehicles, bringing further benefits to fleets.

The FTA said its members have already seen up to a 30% reduction in the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) in the City of Westminster, with similar results seen in other London Boroughs.

“Some of our members were paying more than a million pounds every year in fines,” explained Gordon Telling, FTA’s head of policy for London.

“Added to this was the cost of appeals and administration, placing a huge burden on companies just trying to do business in the capital.”

However, the issuing of PCNs and any subsequent cancellation as they are appealed is also costly to local authorities.

The activity costs the City of Westminster around £3 million a year alone.

By giving delivery drivers a more realistic time frame and a better understanding of where they can and cannot stop to unload, councils and fleets can both benefit.

A Loading and Unloading Code of Practice is being used to promote best practice for delivery staff, civil enforcement officers and local authorities.

“We have already saved businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds in parking fines, with more to come as this best practice procedure gets rolled out,” added Telling.

Food and catering equipment delivery company 3663 has been focussing on PCN reduction for the past year.

Joanna Pegg, fleet manager at 3663, said: “We have introduced a number of management methods and are seeing a 26% reduction in PCN’s year-on-year.”

Meanwhile, there was more good news for fleets falling foul of parking regulations with transport minister Sadiq Khan announcing the Government’s intention to crack down on rogue parking firms.

It is introducing new rules limiting the access to driver data from the DVLA in order to issue a parking fine.

This will mean private companies requesting vehicle keepers’ details from the DVLA will now need to be a member of an accredited trade association.

“We want a fair system that is clearly communicated with an independent complaints procedure,” explained Khan.

The measure is part of a broader cross-Government action plan to radically overhaul the rules governing the enforcement of parking on private land, due to be published in the autumn.