ACFO debate at CCIA to focus on parking fines administration

Fleet operators' association ACFO has lined up an expert panel of speakers for its debate at Company Car in Action which aims to help organisations efficiently manage the administration of fines associated with parking breaches and motoring offences.

ACFO is urging other visitors to CCIA to attend the special parking fines debate taking place at the event on Tuesday.

The debate will be chaired by Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which considers appeals against penalties issued by councils for parking, bus lane and moving traffic contraventions in England (outside of London) and Wales as well as penalties issued for failing to pay a charge at the Dartford River Crossing and the Durham City congestion charge.

Earlier this year it started the roll out of a new online portal to help motorists appeal parking fines, an innovation that it is claimed will drastically accelerate the appeals process.

Speakers and panelists at the 90-minute debate, called “Another Fine Mess?” are:

• Glen Ewen, fleet manager at ACFO member Clear Channel, who will highlight his fines administration experience
• Max Turner, relationship director at vehicle leasing and fleet management provider Zenith, and Imran Ahmad, head of citations, Enterprise Rent A Car, who will each provide an insight into how their organisations manage parking and other fines
• Joanna Audley-Charles, public affairs and media officer, British Parking Association, the largest professional association in Europe representing organisations in the parking and traffic management community including car park operators, local authorities and shopping centres
• Will Hurley, director of Independent Parking Committee, an accredited trade association for parking enforcement companies that runs its own in-house Independent Appeals Service
• Joel Little, enforcement officer - team leader, Parking Eye, the parking enforcement company which last year famously won a long-running legal battle in the Supreme Court over an £85 parking charge on a driver who overstayed a permitted two-hour period of free parking in a shopping centre car park. The judge ruled the charge was not “extravagant or unconscionable”.

The debate is being held two years after ACFO held a members’ ‘master class’ on fines for parking and motoring offences amid concerns over the nightmare they caused for fleet decision-makers and company car and van drivers alike.

ACFO chairman John Pryor said: “Motoring-related fines remain a major issue for fleet managers, particularly in respect of parking and Dartford Crossing due to fundamental issues around processing and administration.

“Our members are frequently caught in the middle between the organisation issuing the fine and the driver who in many cases is ultimately responsible for paying the charge.

“In many areas, the rules around payment are confusing and appear inconsistent, and many drivers may not immediately know that they have been ‘caught’ with any potential offence only coming to light many days later when notification is received.

“We want to know from organisations issuing the fines and those handling the appeals process whether as fleet managers we can be more efficient when notification of penalties are received to reduce the whole administration process.”