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Had enough of bad parking in London? So, it seems, has mayor Sadiq Khan, who has approved a Transport and Environment Committee proposal to increase parking fines. Shoddy parkers, you’ve been warned.
Across the capital, in every London borough, parking fines will increase by a not-unsizable £30. The change is expected to be put into action in April of this year.
But that isn’t all. The parking fines work in a two-band system with different charges depending on location within London. ‘Band A’ includes the more central and congested areas of the capital and ‘Band B’ covers suburban areas where parking is less of an issue (according to the transport committee, though local residents might not agree). You can find a list of all the areas in Band A on the London Councils website here.
Within these bands, there are also two levels of parking offence. Higher level offences include stuff such as parking on double yellows, while lower offences feature things like overstaying your paid parking spot. The increase in fines will affect both higher and lower charges in bands A and B.
Here’s the breakdown of how much London’s parking fines are increasing, come April.
- Higher level fines will rise from £130 to £160 in Band A and from £110 to £140 in Band B.
- Lower Level fines will rise from £80 to £110 in Band A and from £60 to £90 in Band B.
Additional fees related to clamping and towing cars will also be increased. It will now be a £100 charge to get a clamp removed (up from £70) and getting a vehicle released from a car pound will now be £280 (up from £200).
So why are the fines going up? Well, London’s parking fines haven’t been reviewed since 2010 – and seeing as everything else in London has gotten a lot more expensive since then, the Transport and Environment Committee is bringing fine levels up to speed. The committee also says drivers weren’t being deterred by the current level of fines, and that there has been a 50 percent rise in drivers receiving penalty charges since the last review.
You can find more information on the increased parking charges on the City Hall website here.
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