Parking attendants cost twice amount raised by fines

Parking attendants are costing twice what they raise in fines

Parking attendants are costing double the amount recovered in parking fines.

Figures for last year show that the Department for Regional Development paid more than £8m to private company NSL to run the service.

In the same period it lifted more than £4m in fines and car parking charges. The figures were obtained by the SDLP assembly member John Dallat.

He said the expense of the scheme had been increasing and that it must now be "controlled".

"This appears to be an excessive amount of money and over the past two years the cost of this scheme has increased by 20%," he said.

"Clearly the expense of this scheme needs to be controlled otherwise it become an albatross around the neck of the Department of Regional Development which is already experiencing unprecedented financial strain."

In a statement the DRD said NSL employed more than 300 staff and had 24 separate offices throughout Northern Ireland.

"Payments are made to NSL in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract which was awarded to them in 2006 following a rigorous procurement exercise," it said.

"Roads Service's objective with parking enforcement is to reduce the level of illegal parking. Our means of achieving this is through the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) which are issued in situations where vehicles are parked in contravention of parking restrictions.

"Since the NSL contract commenced in 2006, surveys have shown that illegal parking has reduced by up to 65% in town centres and 25% on main routes into Belfast. Reduced illegal parking reduces congestion, improves safety and makes it easier to find a parking space in town centres."