Almost 30% of all parking fines issued in the first year of a clampdown in the north have not been paid.
A total of 9,089 tickets – valued at £352,830 – have been dished out by Highland Council’s parking wardens since the scheme began last October.
Of these, 590 are being challenged. Another 1,056 have been given “no status” – the category that includes drivers who simply do not want to pay and those within the time limit to settle the fine.
It means a potential £98,760 has still to be collected, assuming all these motorists pay the £60 fine – double the £30 due within the first two weeks of receiving a ticket.
Difficulties pursuing foreign drivers or failing to identify vehicle owners are among the reasons for a further 793 tickets being written off, while some have been cancelled due to “issuing errors”.
A spokesman for the council’s traffic management and control team said: “1,646 tickets are unpaid at this moment in time. They are either sitting or being challenged. These tickets are still in the recovery process.
“The first 12 months of operations is showing that we are £5,000 short of breaking even. Based on the model we had for income and expenditure, we were looking at breaking even in the first two to three years, so our model is very positive.
“It has proven itself to be a deliverable and sustainable scheme.”
Highland Council’s vice-convener, Caol and Mallaig councillor Allan Henderson, said he is “alarmed” by the number of outstanding fines, adding: “I would thank The Press and Journal for bringing it to our attention. It’s up to the agency to make sure they collect the money the council is still due.
“It does not surprise me that people will challenge it – that’s human nature. These are areas where parking orders are in place and I am pretty sure they will stand up and, unfortunately, they will have to pay double the original figure.”
Inverness South councillor Duncan Macpherson said: “I do fear the public see this and say it’s not making money so will want to scrap it.
“From a negative point of view, these 800 (written off fines) probably fought and squirmed and it might have put them off from coming back to Inverness.”
The new figures were revealed after a freedom of information request.
The council’s 11-strong parking enforcement team has been operating in Inverness and Lochaber – more recently Skye and Caithness on roving patrols – since the scheme went live on October 24 last year.
Money generated from the fines is used to pay for staff and IT infrastructure.
Parking: What led to the shake-up?
Police once employed 11 traffic wardens for the region until September 2012, but this number was reduced as part of a national cost-cutting review.
By March 2014, there were only two wardens left – both based in Inverness.
From then on the local authority began work to decriminalise parking in the region and, after a six-month delay, the new regulations came into force on October 24 last year, a week later than initially planned.
The council’s parking enforcement officers had started patrolling the streets on October 3 and confined themselves to warning offenders for two weeks – but this extended to a third as numbers were so high.
Bringing the scheme into force involved a cost of about £550,000, £240,000 of which was for physical changes including 160,000 metres of lining and 2,000 road signs.
Motorists have complained about a lack of discretion, but the latest freedom of information request revealed that just two informal complaints were made about enforcement officers over the year, with neither resulting in tickets being rescinded.
Some guest house owners have also claimed it has negatively impacted on their business.
But mounting pressure led to a recent move by the council to pilot scheme where drivers can park for free in some city centre bays for up to 15 minutes, in a bid to spark more “click and collect” trade.
