Around five per cent of fines have been reimbursed after the Reading parking rule scandal that saw more than 6,000 fines being issued in error.
Last Autumn, Reading Borough Council admitted 6,140 fines, called penalty charge notices (PCNs), had been wrongly issued due to incorrectly made traffic regulation orders (TROs) the legal instruments used to create rules for the highway.
An update on a restitution scheme to pay drivers back was presented to the council’s audit and governance committee.
Michael Graham, the council’s assistant director of legal and democratic services revealed that of 756 claims and inquiries, 262 claims have been approved.
That had led to the council paying back a total of £56,300 to affected drivers.
Mr Graham explained that the council’s focus was on contacting those most impacted, specifically a subset of 147 cases that went to enforcement agents.
He said: “We’ve successfully refunded 63 of these cases totalling £44,900.
“We’re actively working to trace the remaining individuals through credit reference agents.”
So far, 1,250 people have been notified, which has garnered 671 responses and 254 accepted claims.
Officers are due to issue a further 1,130 letters to those issued with PCNs in the coming weeks.
Mr Graham also said the East Reading red route has been adjusted following a statutory consultation, with enforcement due to recommence in February with an initial two-week warning period before PCNs are issued.
Councillor Finn McGoldrick (Labour, Norcot) expressed fears that drivers could be confused in a conflict between messaging that people can claim for wrongly issued fines, and the rules being reinstated.
She said: “That could be quite a confusing message for residents, so what are your plans for that?”
Mr Graham said a website laying out active TROs makes it clear that the rules are in place.
He said: “I can certainly take that concern back to the officer working group to make sure that we’ve thought about that, and when we’re issuing further communications to make sure that we are covering that, so that people know that when they get a fresh PCN, it’s a ‘good un’ and we want it paid.”
Meanwhile, cllr Josh Williams, chair of the committee said: “The situation that led to this was poor, there’s no point sugar coating it.
“But in my opinion, the response from officers has been excellent, it’s been thorough, it’s been detailed, it’s been calm, and it’s been precise.
“I think it’s had the intention of both rectifying the past mistakes but ensuring that those mistakes don’t happen again.”
While he praised officers, he did question why only around five per cent of fines had been paid back.
Cllr Williams (Green, Park) said: “I don’t think the repayment uptake has been as high as I’d imagine it would be.
“I had an image in my mind that there would be a high uptake in the beginning and that would tail right off quite quickly.
“It hasn’t really happened, there has been no high uptake, have officers identified any barriers to uptake that we could potentially remove?”
Mr Graham answered that there was a ‘spike’ in uptake when refunds went live and that efforts, including paid social media advertising and notifying neighbour councils are being pursued to spread the message.
The update was given to the audit and governance committee on Tuesday, January 21
