Mike Rutherford's column

4th July 2006

	They’ve sat in their ivory towers for nearly a decade. They’ve done very little and said even less.

Last month, MPs in the Labour-dominated House of Commons transport select committee pretended they were on the motorist’s side, by declaring that the parking fine ‘system’ is in a mess.

Bonuses for wardens were condemned. Councils were accused of sharp practice. Administrative chaos, inconsistencies, over-zealousness and injustices were all acknowledged. And the promise from Westminster was that the people of Britain deserve and will receive improvements. But not until next year – on the eve of the General Election.

Cynical or what? Had committee members researched their subject by daring to venture out in to almost any high street and chatted to car users living in the real, parking fine-obsessed world? If they had, they would have sensed something has been going wrong for some time.

Instead, they’ve sat in their ivory towers for nearly a decade. They’ve done very little and said even less. Meanwhile, as they’re putting themselves into self-induced comas, we on the outside have paid billions in parking fees, fines, excess charges, tow-away fees and related rip-offs. Sure, the parking gestapo may be ordered to make a tactical withdrawal in the run-up to the next election, but I’ll bet that another offensive will be launched when the next Government – Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem – is installed. The giant financial rewards are just too great. Picking the pockets of parkers in this way is so damn easy.

In British towns and cities in the late Nineties and early 2000s I’ve seen no State-sponsored men in scary uniforms targeting drug dealers, out-of-control drunks, thugs, vandals and people armed with spray cans and illegal weapons. But in my neck of the woods, I see these aggressive ‘enforcers’ on the streets 13 hours a day, nicking people who’ve committed the most minor parking offences. Does a council tax-paying resident who’s not blessed with a drive or garage really deserve a hefty fine because his car remains on a single yellow a few minutes beyond the fatuous 8am deadline? Is an employee trying to earn a crust really deserving of financial penalties totalling scores or even hundreds of pounds, just because he or she got held up at work, and couldn’t help overrunning their time on a meter?

I no longer understand this country, its deranged laws and warped sense of justice. John Prescott is the closest we’ve had to a Godfather of Transport over the last decade. The misery this man from Wales has inflicted on British roads, drivers, cars and the fast-disappearing pleasure of motoring is incalculable.

Yet collectively, we pay over a billion pounds a year to the State, its agents and entrepreneurial parking enforcement accomplices, as we commit a few minor and largely insignificant parking transgressions. I warn you now, despite what the sleepy stooges on the select committee suggest to the contrary, enforcement will become even more rigorous in the years ahead.

Government and councils have worked out that although their mercenary attendants are cheap to employ, and rake in far more in profit than they cost to feed and clothe, there is even more money to be grossed by outing these unskilled people. They’re already being replaced by powerful cameras outside shops, near schools and in residential areas with on-street restrictions. The roadside devices will be as unforgiving and inflexible as Gatsos, and potentially could be even more profitable. Much more than this and I’m leaving Britain and going into exile.

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV’s Pulling Powerand is founder of the Motorists’ Association

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