Welcome news from Lichfield District Council that something is being done about parking enforcement in residential areas.
It seems the job is finally being taken seriously – well at least it will be eventually.
Rather than the neighbourhood policing units doing the job (something they don’t seem to have been making a very good fist of given that a friend of TheLichfieldBlog is still awaiting a reply – promised on January 7 – from the Neighbourhood Police Unit commander on such an issue), a team of six APCOA private wardens will be issuing tickets.
But be warned – if you think they’ll finally be doing something about the parking problems in residential Lichfield then you’ll have to wait. For the first stage of their March 9 arrival, the wardens will, according to the LDC report, be issuing mock tickets to warn people they could get a ticket from the new enforcement officers in future.
Mock tickets? If I commit any other offence on the road I don’t get a mock ticket so why should I if I can’t park in accordance to the Highway Code?
There is no excuse for dangerous parking and it’s a problem across Lichfield. It’s good to see that something is finally being done, but quite why it’s had to take so long is beyond me.
And then there’s the debate over whether six wardens will actually make any impact. What, for example will be the hours of coverage? Many of the residential parking issues come into being after usual office hours – something I hope has been taken into account when drawing up these plans.
And does this now mean that police officers will not have to worry about dealing with problematic parking? I sincerely hope not. After all, parking may not now be their problem, but it will be if an accident happens because someone has been injured as a result of having to go around an illegally parked vehicle.
