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Evening News (Edinburgh)
July 25, 2006, Tuesday
HEADLINE: The axe falls on City's Enforcers
BYLINE: Alan Roden Transport Reporter
EDINBURGH'S Enforcer parking attendants are facing the axe after a rival firm pledged to transform relationships with the city's motorists.
National Car Parks (NCP) is set to take over from Central Parking System (CPS) - the firm which sparked a flood of complaints for over-zealous ticketing during five years in charge - this December.
NCP impressed the council with a promise to retrain staff, sending them on a intensive week-long programme to learn how to become "civic ambassadors", better handle confrontation and stop issuing wrong tickets. The company also undercut its rivals by GBP 400,000 and offered to provide a range of other community services such as reporting littering and assisting with school safety training.
The council today said the decision was more to do with quality than cost and insisted the prospective number of parking tickets was not an issue. The new contract, which will take effect from December 3, will include a larger area, as Edinburgh's Controlled Parking Zone expands to cover areas around the city centre.
If ratified by councillors next month, NCP will also take responsibility for towing away cars and collecting cash from pay-and-display machines. Staff and unions have been informed about the changes, but most workers with CPS will be able to transfer jobs to the new operator.
Despite a promise to cut back on mistakes, there is unlikely to be a lesser chance of getting a ticket under the new regime, and no changes to the council's overall enforcement policy. NCP is the UK's largest provider of on-street enforcement, and already has the country's largest parking contract in Westminster. In recent years, it also stripped CPS of its role in Manchester. The existing Edinburgh operator, which took over from Apcoa's Blue Meanies in late 2001, has hit the headlines for a number of high-profile gaffes - including ticketing an ambulance, a hearse, a blood transfusion vehicle and the Scotland rugby team coach.
Sources today said there was a belief at the council that CPS was not capable of handling the new contract, which will be worth far more than the current GBP 3.4 million deal. Councillor Andrew Burns, the city's transport leader, said: "Parking is more in demand than ever in Edinburgh, with over one million vehicles coming into Edinburgh every week, the proportion of car-owning households rising by around 20 per cent in the last 30 years, and a 72 per cent jump in commuting trips in the last 20 years.
"Because of this, it is paramount we have the highest standard of service to ensure our Controlled Parking Zone is patrolled fairly and consistently, balancing the needs of residents, businesses, tradespeople and shoppers. "Over the past five years, Central Parking System has done an admirable job and I thank them for their work. We always strive to provide the absolute best service possible and I am confident that National Car Parks will raise the bar even higher."
The council's recommendation, due to be published in a report tomorrow, follows a major review of parking in the city over the past year, which proposed the introduction of new permits for businesses and tradespeople. CPS has already had its contract extended twice - once in 2004 and again this year from September to December - but the new deal is far more complex.
It will include sign and line maintenance, and cash collection. Vehicle removals and ticket machine duties were previously dealt with by the council, but NCP is now set to take responsibility for these areas and 24 council employees will be transferred to the new set-up. By 2008, the expansion of parking restrictions will mean attendants cover nine extra zones outside the city centre for the first time, with Hillside, Broughton, Marchmont, Sciennes and the Grange being included from this September. This is expected to bring in an extra GBP 3m in fines, on top of the GBP 7m already collected each year.
The tender documents for the new contract were based on the British Parking Association's model contract and the evaluation of each contractor was based on a 70 per cent quality and 30 per cent cost and revenue formula. As well as CPS and NCP, it is thought the two other major parking enforcement firms in the UK - Vinci Park and Apcoa - were also in the running. CPS was in the final shortlist of two, along with NCP.
NCP spokesman James Pritchard said the firm was aware of the council's recommendation and is awaiting its decision. But he said the firm vows to "understand the local population". He added: "We have an excellent training regime focused on customer service and conflict resolution. We encourage our parking attendants to be responsible on the street.
"If you can train people right from the start to take a certain attitude on to the street, that can make a real difference in the way staff are perceived. "The aim for NCP is to get it right first time. If you do that, then you don't have as many problems, and it leads to lower levels of appeals and fewer complaints."
NCP, which has contracts with 35 local authorities across Britain, has proposed introducing a new customer charter between itself, the council and the community that commits to "higher levels of accuracy and transparency". Although the details have not yet been discussed, parking attendants could also provide other services, such as reporting fly-tipping, littering, abandoned vehicles, and safety issues.
In Islington, the parking operator recently teamed up with the local council and police force to help reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. A spokeswoman for CPS today said the firm was "disappointed" not to be recommended for the new contract.
"We understand that the recommendation is in no way reflective of the level of service that we have provided during the contract," she said. We have enjoyed a healthy relationship with the City of Edinburgh and look forward to working with them in the future. We wish NCP well."
FROM PRIZES FOR ATTENDANTS, TO BEST PRACTICE .
NCP played a key role in helping the Government draw up new motorist-friendly plans for car parking enforcement. The company, which is set to be awarded control of Edinburgh's parking restrictions, told MPs at a select committee that parking attendants should be banned from getting bonuses for issuing more tickets.
The House of Commons later issued a report attacking existing enforcement rules, and new proposals for England were unveiled earlier this month. The firm's approach to enforcement, and particularly its training regime, is now regarded as an example of best practice across the UK. However, it was criticised in the past for running a "champions league" for parking attendants it managed on behalf of Westminster. The winners could get prizes including a car and a TV.
One employee issued 1444 tickets in a month after the offer of a car worth GBP 12,000 to the warden who imposed the most fines. The company then did away with incentives. NCP is the UK's largest provider of on-street enforcement, with 35 contracts with local authorities.
[b]Month by month the charges pile up
DECEMBER 2001 - Central Parking Systems take over the GBP 2.3 million contract for enforcing the city's traffic restrictions.
FEBRUARY 2002 - Enforcers ticket a mother as she drops off her disabled daughter at school.
MARCH 2002 - Figures show thanks to CPS, more cash is paid out in parking fines in Edinburgh than anywhere else in Britain except London.
OCTOBER 2002 - The Evening News launches its "Ticket? Stick it!" campaign after receiving dozens of complaints about over-zealous Enforcers.
NOVEMBER 2002 - A tribunal hears that Enforcers were forced to issue "illegal" tickets on a non-yellow-lined road. The Scotland rugby team bus is also ticketed by attendants.
JANUARY 2003 - Enforcers ticket a hearse as it waits to go to a funeral. Later on that month, they also ticket an ambulance as it waits to take a wheelchair-bound elderly woman to hospital.
FEBRUARY 2003 - Attendants ticket a bus full of disabled people outside the Royal Museum.
APRIL 2003 - Enforcers ticket a lorry that had broken down in Bruntsfield.
SEPTEMBER 2003 - Enforcers ticket a taxi driver who parked his cab in a taxi rank so he could to go to the toilet.
APRIL 2005 - The number of parking tickets issued in the Capital in a single year reaches 250,000 for first time. Enforcers ticket a car because "a dog was obscuring a pay-and-display ticket".
FEBRUARY 2006 - Enforcers ticket an RAC recovery car as it attends to a break down. They also target a blood transfusion bus filled with people donating blood.
JULY 2006 - Council officials recommend handing parking contract to NCP.
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just ask RCF or TC. 
I won't mention plate values on this thread again. 
