A government report says parking charges should be fairer

The report calls for clear performance standards in applying parking restrictions, greater transparency for challenging parking fines and appropriate recruitment, wages and training for parking enforcers.

Edmund King, of the RAC Foundation, said drivers would be "delighted" at the report's recommendations.

"Over-zealous enforcement, confusing signs and lines and the belief that councils are using parking fines to raise revenue rather than keep the traffic moving should become nothing but bad memories if the government takes this report seriously," he said.

'Help traders'

A spokesman for the AA Motoring Trust said: "This is a damning report that confirms what many motorists know and what the rest suspected about parking enforcement by councils: it is a mess, often unfair and sometimes dishonest."

Steve Collie, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the government needed to make changes to help traders competing with out-of-town shopping centres.

"The select committee's proposal to review the approach to parking is not before time and must include a thorough examination of local parking provision and charges," he said.

"Parking is free out of town but high street retailers are hit hard by restrictive parking policies from local councils.

"For small firms to survive in local areas, providing vital services, especially for the elderly and vulnerable, this bias against them must be removed from local and national government policy."

'Safer roads'

David Sparks, from the Local Government Association, defended the millions of pounds in profit that comes from local authority parking controls.

"The vast majority of money raised through parking fines goes either on the administration of the system or on other transport initiatives," he said.

"It shouldn't be a revenue earning exercise, it should be entirely down to making our roads safer and making our roads more efficient."

Keith Banbury, from the British Parking Association, which represents the parking industry, said people were wrong think that councils used parking fines to raise money.

"There is no hard evidence to suggest that but I think that some of the key performance indicators in some of the contracts have been financially based," he said.

"We've produced a new contract so you measure the performance of a contractor by a different means.

"How many cars down a street that were parked illegally that weren't ticketed? That's a measure.