News

Van Brought In To Tackle Illegal Parking

Friday November 18 2011

A PARKING clampdown has begun in Barnsley after the council got grant funding to buy a new van which records vehicle number plates.

Barnsley Council received £43,000 for the automatic number plate recognition van to record drivers who park illegally in the borough.

The van takes a photograph of the parking offence and a £70 fine is issued - a 50 per cent discount if it is paid within 21 days.

A council spokesman said that the van will patrol all over the borough - but will focus on streets surrounding schools during term time. It will also focus on other restricted parking zones like bus stops, taxi ranks and main arterial roads.

Coun Roy Miller said: "I hope people will change their behaviour voluntarily and park more considerately. Thanks to the ANPR vehicles the minority who ignore safety zone warning zigzags and such restrictions now have a much greater chance of being caught and fined.”

*Picture shows Coun Roy Miller with the ANPR vehicle at work at Joseph Locke Primary School, Raley Street, Barnsley. This location has enforceable ‘School – Keep Clear’ zig-zag markings. He is pictured with students. *

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Reply Posted by john briscoe on Friday November 18 2011 at 09:41

we dont have enough cameras watching us in Britian, the KGB in Russia would have loved to spy on every aspect of the Russian peoples lives the same way as us "free" people are spied upon but they would not have stood for it ...we do..we are told its good for us..why not stop the car and issue a ticket by hand...the answers simple,... it will park up hidden somewhere and collect revenue from Barnsley people..It's never about the children or they would use wardens its always about money..cameras collecting money...first year will make £millions and then they will buy a fleet of them and tins of yellow paint to restrict more roads to catch people and fine them

Reply Posted by Mick on Friday November 18 2011 at 12:59

I'm all for this as long as there is a good publicity drive before it comes into use. Get the schools to send notes to parents, get shops in areas with parking problems to put up a poster for their customers & tell the ones who park outside on the yellow lines while they pop in for something. The vehicle is clearly marked and is badly needed.

Reply Posted by john briscoe on Friday November 18 2011 at 16:23

that car was not bought for fifteen minutes work in the morning and fifteen mins in the afternoon...it has other uses that are non school related but they shout THINK OF THE CHILDREN to get in into service

Reply Posted by Mick on Friday November 18 2011 at 17:00

No. It can also be usefully used to show - people parking illegally in disabled spaces, illegal use of other people's blue badges, hazards caused to pedestrians & other road users, delays caused by blocked junctions, parking in bus stops, parking on pavements.........

The people who do it don't see the problem but it causes accidents, near misses, delay & misery for others every day. A few well publicised clampdowns & enough people will learn to be more considerate of others. If it continues to be a cash cow for the council after that it will be because people are stupid.

Reply Posted by Dave Burnett on Friday November 18 2011 at 19:45

Just what we wanted in Barnsley a car that goes round taking
photo’s generating more money at the expense of the car driver, we already have
speed cameras hidden behind trees (near Tesco’s) and round corners (Pontefract
Road) let’s hope it’s used to catch law breakers and not just members of the
public for the sake of it. I can think of more important things that this town
wants than another money generator. If they just take photo and send a fine
this is money generating, if they move the illegal parkers on this is parking enforcement,
which is it to be Barnsley Council?

Reply Posted by Beverley on Saturday November 19 2011 at 19:43

Is that CCTV Surveillance Van parked on Double Yellow Lines?!?!

Reply Posted by Adele Carr on Sunday November 20 2011 at 11:08

The blue audi behind it is parked on the pavement

Reply Posted by Lynniepooz on Sunday November 20 2011 at 11:39

If they put the highly visible van across from Walkers in Hoyland every day, they'll have enough money in fines to reduce the council tax, believe me!

Reply Posted by Sarah on Sunday November 20 2011 at 18:01

How about having designated drop off zones outside schools, so that working parents can drop their children off safely in an area close to the school, not 500yds away down a main road? Just because they are old enough to wait unsupervised in the school yard does not mean they are old enough to walk to school unaccompanied down a busy main road. More money for the council, that can't even be bothered to provide a school crossing patrol at times. Just tax working parents struggling to get by, with sneaky cameras. If they were bothered about child safety they would make 30mph zones around schools, and have walking wardens to enforce dangerous parking.

Reply Posted by disgruntled on Monday November 21 2011 at 08:50

I think it's a good thing. I used to live opposite a school, and the amount of illeagle parking going on there would have saved the council a fortune. The illeagle parking of the parents caused so many accidents, with one woman being knocked over because she couldn't see the cars coming down the road for the amount of cars parked on and across driveways and on double yellows. There was safe parking just around the corner from the school, but the parents just wanted the 'convieniance' of parking where they wanted. Half the time, they only lived a few hundred yards from the school.
No one pays attention to double yellows, disabled parking or anything else, if parking there is a convieniance to them. Maybe this van will actually make them realise that it is illeagal to park where you want for your own convieniance. I think they should be issued points too, because they obviously can't read - and are setting a bad example to other drivers,

Reply Posted by Steve on Monday November 21 2011 at 09:03

I think we should make ordinary pedestrians able to enforce it, that way you could get the enforcement and so on from actual people who have to put up with the problems. I'd kill for a speed camera in my car so that every time a car comes speeding past at 50mph down the road up to St Michael's and swerves past me beeping for going the speed limit, which is too slow by his own standards. It'd save the council some money in paying for people to enforce it because we're doing it, and that way we're sorting out the problems ourselves, then they could put the saved money into fixing the potholes on the roads.

Reply Posted by kim prentice on Monday November 21 2011 at 09:15

It's a shame when they decide to build a new school like Josiph Locke where that photo was taken they don't take into consideration the amount of traffic a large school like that will create. Surely if there was somewhere safe to drop your children off without illegally parking parents would do this. There are 2 other schools on the same road as Josiph Locke so dropping children off at 8.50 is impossible not to mention dangerous when there is such a large volume of traffic on the road infront of the 3 schools.

Reply Posted by kim prentice on Monday November 21 2011 at 09:15

Reply Posted by flez1966 on Monday November 21 2011 at 13:21

you need to get out and take photos of illegally parked council and police vehicles and ones with duff brake lights etc, then add them to a new site..

newly started on facebook, bad piggys ...

Reply Posted by flez1966 on Monday November 21 2011 at 13:21

you need to get out and take photos of illegally parked council and police vehicles and ones with duff brake lights etc, then add them to a new site..

newly started on facebook, bad piggys ...

Reply Posted by Tom on Wednesday January 22 2014 at 07:55

Apparently it is not illegal to park on the pavement, but it is to drive on the pavement. How do you get a vehicle on to the pavement without driving it? What about those who park on the pavement and block it up altogether? Are we as pedestrians allowed to walk in the road and get knocked down in a case like this?