2:19pm Monday 22nd March 2010
Penalty tickets issued on Chorley’s car parks have declined by almost a half since the unpopular Parkwise system was replaced.
Since a change last year in the way parking is enforced, complaints have reduced and the number of penalty tickets issued is down by 38 per cent.
The new system of enforcement and administration was introduced in September when Chorley Council pulled out of the controversial Parkwise scheme.
The town’s 13 town centre pay-and-display car parks are now monitored by the Legion Group, with IT company Chipside carrying out the back office administration.
Since the change parking tickets on the council’s car parks have reduced from 2,644 between September 2008 and February 2009 to 1,640 between September 2009 and February 2010.
The new regime costs £25,000 less per year to run.
Councillor Peter Goldsworthy, leader of Chorley Council, said: “We realised that we had to change the way in which parking was administered in our car parks.
“The people who enforce the parking rules are much more friendly and welcoming to people visiting the town, which will hopefully encourage more people into Chorley.”
“Our civil enforcement officers are clearly identifiable in their red uniform and the service is much more transparent now it is controlled by us from start to finish.
“I would like to see the number of tickets issued drop even further but we need motorists to park responsibly and follow the rules, if that happened there wouldn’t be any need to fine motorists.”
On street parking, outside of the town’s pay-and-display car parks, remains under the control of Lancashire County Council.
Officers monitoring the car parks wear a red uniform and those working for Lancashire County Council wear blue.
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