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| Councillor Lee Dunsdon |
Liberal Democrats have been pressing the Tory run New Forest District Council to come clean on penalty charge notices. Local motorists are stumping up thousands of pounds in fines, all on top of the cost of paying for parking clocks and metered charges.
Through a series of questions to the Tory Portfolio holder, Councillor Lee Dunsdon has confirmed suspicions that many motorists are paying heavy charges in addition to standard parking fees. Motorists forgetting to display a clock have contributed to a total of £277,631 taken by the Tory Council in penalty charge notices during the last financial year.
Cllr. Dunsdon is calling upon the Tories to waive penalty charges in cases where motorists can prove that they have purchased a clock. He says “We know that the parking clocks are not selling as well as the Tories had hoped. Clobbering existing clock holders with increases and then imposing harsh fines for those who simply forget to display a clock is downright insensitive.”
The number of penalty charge notices issued for clocks and tickets issued by New Forest District Council totalled 10,498 in the last financial year. During the last Liberal Democrat administration, local people were able to take advantage of free parking through a special permit scheme. This was scrapped by the Conservative administration.
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