FleetCheck has called on the Government to introduce a new penalty system for drivers. The Labour Party government has been urged to introduce a standard format for parking and traffic fines across the UK.
As it stands, local councils, police forces and private parking firms all use different layouts and wording for fines. But FleetCheck says this creates confusion and slows down the process for companies that manage large numbers of vehicles.
Callum Haymon-Collins, chief operating officer at FleetCheck, said: "Handling PCNs is a major bugbear for fleets and one that seems to be a greater burden year-by-year. Quantities are rising, and some of our users are having to employ people purely to deal with them. A key complaint is that every issuer of PCNs appears to use their own format. This makes them slow for people to manually process because they often have to read every document in full, but also reduces opportunities for automation."
The expert added: "The diversity of PCN designs creates problems for those collecting fines, too, because it leads to a generally higher level of errors in fleet responses and a need for ongoing dialogues. The main difficulty fleets will face in pushing for a standard national format is the question of who might facilitate this happening? Probably the most obvious candidates are one of the industry bodies. Certainly, the evidence we see suggests that it would be a hugely popular move with fleet managers."
In Birmingham, the city council says "we issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), often called parking fines, when traffic or parking regulations are not followed." These measures help improve road safety, reduce congestion and ensure fair access to parking across Birmingham, they say. Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued when a vehicle is recorded as not following parking or traffic regulations. This is known as a contravention. PCNs may be placed on your vehicle or sent to you by post.
