A fine mess as enforcer gaffes cost NCP £62k

EDINBURGH'S parking enforcers have been hit with a £62,000 fine after thousands of tickets had to be cancelled because of mistakes.

NCP Services had the cash deducted from its annual payment from the city council because more than 3000 parking tickets – worth at least £90,000 – were scrapped due to errors by attendants.

New figures also revealed today that NCP is missing "targets" for the number of tickets handed out, with each enforcer issuing 1.2 an hour.

While the council has always insisted targets do not exist, it has emerged "performance indicators" agreed with NCP when it took over the contract in December 2006 stipulated that 1.5 tickets would be issued every hour.

Today's figures show council chiefs raked in £5.6 million from parking tickets in the first year of NCP's contract, and also collected just under £10m in pay-and-display revenue at the same time.

Edinburgh's transport leader, Councillor Phil Wheeler, today insisted the council was "more than happy" with the service being provided by NCP. He said:

"NCP Services are expected to meet a series of key performance indicators every month as a measure of good service. I am pleased to report that the vast majority of the most important of these were met regularly.

"One of the least important indicators to the council, the activity level, was based upon the number of tickets that NCP said that they would issue every hour, as well as the historical average of vehicles which are parked incorrectly in the city each day.

"I can guarantee that they were never penalised for not issuing a certain number of tickets."

As well as the number of cancelled tickets, however, other areas where NCP was penalised financially by the city council included staffing levels and the number of illegally parked cars removed from the city's streets.

The figures show that of the 215,653 tickets issued in the first year of the contract, 75 per cent were paid in full. Of 12,000 tickets that were cancelled, parking attendant error was responsible for a quarter of them. The introduction of new handheld computers in May last year is thought to account for most of the errors.

Driving groups said motorists are unlikely to see the indicators as anything but targets for the enforcers. Last year attendants told the Evening News they were under pressure to ticket at least 60 cars a week in the Capital.

Neil Greig, head of policy in Scotland for the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "I am surprised at the activity levels, it does sound like theses are targets but the council are just using management speak to describe them.

"It is right that NCP are held to account by the council but I think a lot of Edinburgh drivers will be a little uncomfortable to hear the parking attendants have these figures to work towards."

A spokesman for NCP Services said the city council used a "wide range of performance indicators" to ensure that it was doing its job. He added: "If we fail to meet the standards they have set for us, then quite rightly financial penalties are incurred.

"That is a perfectly sensible way for the council to ensure it is getting value for money."

www.edinburgh.gov.uk