Parking tickets spark backlash
Stafford's parking enforcement officers have been branded "over-zealous" for dishing out tickets like confetti and exceeding targets by more than 2,000 in their first year.
Leading borough councillor Jack Kemp said that their "hard work" may be frightening people away from the town.
The authority took over decriminalised parking enforcement in November 2007 and set itself a fixed penalty target issue of 10,500 in the first 12 months.
By September of last year it had already exceeded that number by 1,720, with more than a month to go.
"They may be bringing in some good revenue for the council, but they are certainly not pleasing members of the public," said Councillor Kemp.
"I have had complaints in my ward about some of them being over-zealous. Things like giving a ticket because the rear of a car overlaps a double yellow line.
"I think they ought to show a little more consideration for residents and for disabled people," he added. "I understand they are given targets to meet daily and with some of them there is no relaxation.
"The old attitude with the police used to be that if the vehicle was moved it was OK, but these people seem very over-zealous."
Councillor Kemp said he realised that tickets were being issued to people who had committed an offence but there ought to be room for a degree of relaxation.
He said he believed one of the reasons the town centre car parks were not being used fully was because of the "heavy handed" attitude of the enforcement officers.
"There is a lot of folklore about people not coming into the town," he said. "The car parks are not being used and revenue from them is down."
"Is it to the council's advantage if they (the enforcement officers) are frightening people off?"
John Franklin, of the RAC, said: "I would hope and expect that drivers in Stafford are being treated fairly and that the council is not being too forceful."
The figures for the issue of Penalty Charge Notices were revealed in a report to the Joint Staffordshire Parking Board, which met last week.
It adds that 67.3 per cent of the offending drivers had paid the £60 penalty for being parked illegally.
Parking enforcement powers were handed over to the council on November 1 of 2007 and a team of attendants and officers set up. They are armed with hand-held computers, so they can issue tickets on the spot and report any problems direct to highways teams.
