Spy car rakes in £15,000 from parents' poor parking
Nearly 450 parents have been slapped with fines after being caught by a spy car introduced just over a year ago to crack down on poor parking outside schools.
Parents in the Dudley borough are still being caught by the vehicle, which was introduced in September 2017, with more than £15,000 paid in fines in its first year.
The Dudley Council camera vehicle has been out on the streets looking for evidence of bad parking outside schools – with parents facing fines of up to £70.
Parents have paid out £15,358 in fines to date with 444 penalty charges dished out between September 1 2017 and October 12 2018.
Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, the council’s cabinet member for environmental services, said they take the safety of children around schools ‘extremely seriously’.
The vehicle was introduced by Dudley Council at the start of the school term in September 2017, in a bid to improve children’s safety. The move had followed complaints about problem parking outside school gates.
The camera only starts rolling when the car has driven over yellow zig-zag lines. Once the car leaves the area the camera stops rolling.
Council officers are then tasked with looking through the video footage in order to catch the perpetrators. Councillor Ahmed said: “We take safety around our schools extremely seriously.
“The zig-zag lines are there to protect our children, so they can see and be seen when going to and from school.
“Fortunately most drivers do park responsibly near the school gates, but there are still some who continue to park illegally, putting the lives of children at risk.
“The council will continue to use the CCTV vehicle on streets around schools to ensure our children stay safe.”
The most fines were handed out in Church Road, Coseley, outside Christ Church Primary, followed by Hillcrest Road, in Dudley, near to St Joseph’s Primary School.
Fines were also handed out outside Netherton Primary School on Highbridge Road, Netherton.
The spy car was kept busy outside Castle High School in St James Road, Dudley, and Blowers Green Primary School, on Blowers Green Road.
The scheme is self-financing, with any surplus money generated from fines being ring-fenced to go back into the upkeep of the roads in the borough and improving road safety.
