MOTORISTS who appeal against parking fines have a 72 per cent chance of getting their money back in Barnet, research has shown.
Figures released on Tuesday by London Councils, the lobbying organisation that promotes the interests of the capital’s local authorities, showed that 1,424 out of 1,965 appeals against parking tickets were successful, giving Barnet the second highest appeal success rate in London after the City, where the figure was 80 per cent.
However, fewer than one per cent of parking tickets were challenged. Over 2012/13, traffic wardens employed by NSL, the company which enforces on-street parking controls on behalf of the council as part of a £3.4million annual contract, wrote out 165,569 tickets in the borough.
The authority’s income from parking charge notices was £6.6m.
The total number of penalty charge notices issued in London for illegal parking fell by more than 90,000 over the same period, from 4,131,738 in 2011/12 to 4,041,423.
Dean Cohen, cabinet member for environment, said: “The number of PCNs we issue in Barnet fluctuates year on year.
“While the number of people appealing against their tickets has gone up, nearly 99 per cent of motorists receiving tickets accepted they were in the wrong and paid their fine.
“I am keen to look into why we are seeing increasing numbers of appeals allowed. I know I’ve inherited an issue with road markings in the borough and I am keen to do something about it.”
Barnet Council’s contract with NSL is not based on the number of penalties issued.