FOI requests point to wide variation in appeal success over parking fines

Freedom of Information enquiries by the Press Association have revealed a ‘postcode lottery’ in parking fines.

It said rates for successful appeals against parking tickets varied from 95.4% in Basingstoke and Deane down to only 9.2% in Runnymede.

Basingstoke and Deane accepted 540 challenges out of 566, the Press Association found.

Other councils most likely to excuse drivers from fines were Waveney, where 164 challenges out of 226 were accepted and South Tyneside, in which 1,474 challenges were successful out of 2,074.

By contrast, the councils most likely to reject appeals were Staffordshire, Peterborough, Greenwich and Sefton.

Runnymede said the figures related to offences mainly concerning parking on yellow lines and dropped kerbs, where there was little room for ambiguity, while Basingstoke & Deane said it took an approach of seeking to change drivers’ behaviour, rather than punishing them.