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Basildon Council’s Smart camera car to snare illegal parkers
MOTORISTS parking illegally in Basildon could soon be paying an extra £100,000 a year into council coffers in fines, if caught by a pint-sized spy-car.
Council parking wardens will shortly take delivery of the modified Smart car, fitted with automatic number plate recognition technology.
It will be used against parents parking outside schools and clogging up town centre streets.
The council hopes to rake in £93,000 from parking fines in its first year of use.
It also plans to use the car – which is being leased for £25,000 a year – against flytippers, bringing in a further £125,000 in fines for illegal dumping.
The scheme is due to start within two months and if it goes to plan, it will be the first time the council has ever made a profit on enforcement action.
However, Tory council leader Malcolm Buckley has stressed the main aim was road safety.
He said: “Its primary concern is to improve road safety.
“One of the things which should happen is the number of people parking illegally will go down. Parents parking outside schools will be a priority, as will congestion in town centres.
“We also have residents asking us to put more parking restrictions in their streets, but they will only be useful if they can be enforced. Instead of a person walking up and down a street, the car can cover a much greater area with the same number of staff.”
The move was backed by deputy leader of the council’s opposition Labour group, Allan Davies. He said: “Anything which targets irresponsible motorists is to be warmly welcomed, so long as it is used throughout the district and not just to tally up the tickets.”
Similar Smart cars are already used in this way in London, but Basildon will be the first council outside the capital to put one into service.
Cameras fitted in the car snap the number-plates of offending cars, allowing tickets to be posted to drivers’ homes. They are then asked to pay a £35 fine, which doubles if they fail to pay within 21 days.
Not everyone has welcomed the scheme. Some traders outside Basildon town centre fear customers could be put off by the threat of a ticket.
Mark Buxton, manager of Realms Fish and Chip Shop, in Rectory Road, Pitsea, said: “We have 30-minute waiting outside our shop, but if the council starts giving tickets when people have been 31 minutes in the local shops, they’re going to end up going to Tesco, where the council has allowed masses of parking spaces.”
However, cabbies have given the thumbs-up, after discussing its use at the taxi and private hire forum.
Taxi driver Ralph Morgan said: “We think it’s a good idea. We have terrible trouble with people parking where they shouldn’t, particular at the taxi rank near Asda in the Eastgate Centre and at Basildon station.”
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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