COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

You'll see a lot of cars in these places around Coventry



Coventry's parking "hotspots" have been revealed as the number of tickets starts to catch up with pre-Covid levels. Areas of the city which bring in "large numbers of vehicles" are unveiled in a new council report.

These areas are in addition to the city centre, which has the most traffic, and school gates, the report says. The so-called "hotspots" have different "challenges" over the day for enforcing parking rules.

But it claims there is "no panacea or single solution" to the problem and each situation must be considered individually.

The hotspot areas are:

• Walsgrave Rd (Ball Hill)
  
• Walsgrave Hospital
  
• Foleshill Rd
  
• Stoney Stanton Rd
  
• Hillfields
  
• Earlsdon
  
• Cheylesmore
  
• Coventry Building Society Arena
  
• Jubilee Crescent in Radford
  
• Coundon
  
• Resident parking schemes (about 30)

The information comes from a council report on how parking rules are "enforced" in the city. Parking hotspots are just one of the challenges to enforcement according to the report.

Data in the report reveals that the number of tickets, also known as fixed penalty notices (PCNs) given out by the wardens is almost at levels seen in 2019-20. Back then there were 110,000 issued and of these the majority, 65,000, related to bus lanes.

In 2023-24, 92,000 tickets were given but more of these (51,000) were for parking compared to bus lanes. Levels of tickets were as low as 40,000 in the year that Covid hit and around 70,000 in the two years after.

But of these only 68% of parking tickets and 75% of bus lane tickets are eventually paid - the rest are cancelled or written off if they can't be collected. Drivers can be hit with a £70 or £50 fine, but these are halved if paid in 14 days, the report states.

It says income from the fines is "ring-fenced" and used to fund the service which costs the council a whopping £1.2 million per year.

Council makes £800k in bus lane fines as thousands caught out



A councillor says the public have "concerns" over the level of income the council gets through bus lanes. Cllr Ed Ruane questioned the effectiveness of the measures at a scrutiny meeting yesterday (11 April.)

His comments come after data showed the number of citywide bus lane fines soared by almost two-thirds last year. The figures don't include how much income the charges brought in, but an FOI from 2022 revealed the council had made over £800,000 in one year from bus lane fines.

The money is "ring-fenced" and used to fund the council's parking enforcement service which costs around £1.2 million per year, a report said. But Cllr Ruane told the meeting: "We all believe in parking enforcement but when you see the proportion of money being made through bus lanes that's where I think the public raise concerns.

"How do you assess if this is having a negative impact?" Cllr Ruane revealed he had been fined three times from the Quinton Road lane - now closed for building work around the station - adding: "I just don't go down there anymore."

"The money we are making on the bus lanes just seems to be going up and up and up, it doesn't seem to be having that learned behaviour [effect]," he claimed. Figures for the meeting showed 41,000 penalty charges for bus lanes were handed out in 2023/24, compared with 25,000 the year before.

Council issues over 40,000 bus lane fines



Coventry City Council has issued thousands of bus lane fines to drivers in the past year.

The council issued over 40,000 bus lane fines in the year to April 2024, according to Freedom of Information requests by advice firm Personal Injury Claims UK.

The data showed that the council also ranked highly for the number of fines when compared to similar authorities.

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said access to bus lanes was restricted in order to reduce bus journey times and traffic, as well as improving air quality.

The figures showed that the authority issued 42,813 tickets to drivers for breaking bus lane restrictions in the 12-month period.

Coventry issued the fourth highest number of fines out of 22 metropolitan districts, with only Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham sending out more during this time, the research showed.

The tickets were worth £1.2 million if every driver paid £30, the company said.

A bus gate on Hales Street, at the junction with The Burges, accounted for over 27,000 of the fines issued. This bus gate has been in force since July 2023.

A bus gate is a short section of a road that can only be used by buses, as opposed to just one lane.

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said: “Access to bus lanes is restricted to buses, taxis and other authorised vehicles with the aim of reducing bus journey times, reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality.”

They added that many local authorities enforced their bus lanes and any driver who received a fine could appeal to an independent adjudication service.