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CHAPTER FIVE: INTERVENTION MEASURES AND OTHER MEASURES FOR TACKLING THE ABUSE OF PARKING FOR DISABLED PEOPLE
This chapter provides descriptions of the intervention measures that were reviewed and evaluated during the study. The research participants' reactions to these measures are described in Chapter 6 while the practical considerations, constraints, and effectiveness of these measures are presented in Chapter 8.
The full range of measures evaluated included:
- Possible measures which are available to service providers for enforcing off-street parking. Among these include: polite notice, stickering, patrolled car parks, electronic barrier, remote controlled mini-barrier system for individual parking bays, automatic electronic announcement for bay users and Automatic Number Plate Recognition ( ANPR).
- Measures which are used widespread in Scotland for the enforcement of on-street parking but are not commonly used to enforce off-street car parks e.g. vehicle removal, the use of traffic wardens.
- Suggested measures which are not currently possible or legal for the enforcement of off-street parking, but are used as methods of intervention for other offences, i.e. points on driving licence, and those that are currently illegal in Scotland i.e. wheel clamping.
5.1 Possible Measures for the Enforcement of Off-Street Parking
5.1.1 Polite notice, stickering and patrolled car park
This approach is a simple, relatively low-key means of reducing inappropriate parking. A sheet of non-adhesive paper or adhesive sticker is secured behind the windscreen or stuck on the window of the offending car. Reference is made to their inappropriate parking with a polite request not to do it again or to the consequences of this action (e.g. a fine and what the driver needs to do next). This approach requires car park operators to operate a regular patrol to deter and challenge unauthorised parking in reserved bays.
This approach has been applied to tackle the abuse of parking facilities for disabled people in off-street car parks at airports (e.g. Edinburgh), rail stations/interchanges, NHS hospitals (where parking sites are integrated), supermarkets and retail parks. Surveys at rail stations/interchanges show that abuse is not a major problem at manned stations but at stations with no physical presence, abuse takes place.
5.1.2 Electronic barrier
This measure can offer the most direct and effective measure for preventing the abuse of parking facilities. It provides an electronic means of preventing the departure of an offending vehicle from an area where there are reserved bays for disabled people, or preventing the entrance of a vehicle that does not have the right to access an area where there are reserved bays for disabled people.
This approach has been applied in supermarket and hospital car parks to control access to segregated parking areas for Blue Badge holders. However it might not be appropriate for all sites e.g. where car park space is limited, as it is most cost-effective if its cost is spread over a large number of spaces.
5.1.3 Remote controlled mini-barrier system for bays
A mini-barrier system is installed directly onto a road surface, in individual parking bays. To access the space the driver presses a button on a hand held remote control device which automatically lowers the barrier. The mini barrier will automatically remain down until the car has left the space when the barrier will return to its upright position. When fully operational, the system can prevent access to a space for all unauthorised users and therefore provide an effective means of tackling abuse.
The physical distribution, and administration, of the remote control units means that this system is best suited to sites that have a 'closed' membership e.g. universities, leisure centres, hotels, as opposed to sites that are open to the general public.
5.1.4 Automatic electronic announcement for bay users
This is a system that consists of discs, situated in the middle of the reserved bay, which are linked to one of a series of bollards which can interface with the discs. When a car drives into the space, a sensor is triggered, and this initiates an audible announcement which reminds customers of the purpose of the spaces, and encourages them to park elsewhere if they have no need to park in the reserved space.
A model of an electronic automated announcement system has been installed in retail parks (e.g. Merry Hill Centre, Dudley), hospitals (e.g. in the Vale of Leven, the Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock and the Royal Alexandra in Paisley) and extensively by one supermarket chain.
5.1.5 Automatic Number Plate Recognition ( ANPR)
Automatic Number Plate Recognition ( ANPR) is a high tech means of ensuring that parking facilities reserved for disabled people are only used by disabled people. The system is based on advanced Digital Image Processing ( DIP) technology. The system functions by detecting, on a real-time video image, the number plate of a vehicle entering a premises, and then reading the characters on this number plate. The information read is then logged and checked against a database of information, which, in the context of monitoring the use of parking bays reserved for disabled people, would consist of a list of people who are registered as being permitted to use a given facility.
The system has been trialed at supermarket car parks where it requires disabled people to register their licence plate in-store in order that their number plate is recognised and a barrier to enter a space in a segregated area is lowered. Since mid-May 2005, a number of parking facilities reserved for disabled people at these stores have only been accessible to disabled customers who have signed-up and registered their number plate details in-store. In general it has been found to be effective.
5.1.6 The use of traffic wardens/imposing fines
This approach can be an effective policy for tackling the abuse of parking for disabled people. It has been applied successfully in Dundee and Angus where all enforcement of off-street car parking regulations is carried out by the Local Authority Roads Department staff operating out of Dundee; this task is carried out intermittently by staff who do so in conjunction with their other duties (Angus Roads, 2000). Since municipal car parks in Angus are free, this duty concerns checking that a Blue Badge is displayed in a vehicle parked in a bay reserved for disabled people, and that there is no parking outwith the boundaries of designated parking spaces. Offending motorists are issued with a Fixed Penalty charge of £30, but this will be discounted to £25, if paid within three weeks.
5.1.7 Traffic Regulation Orders ( TROs)
It is possible for service providers on private land to give control of a car park to a Local Authority through the application of a Traffic Regulation Order ( TRO) so that the Local Authority becomes responsible for the enforcement of the parking bays. This approach is adopted by Stirling City Council for enforcing free parking facilities for disabled people in municipal off-street car parks within and outwith the city centre. If they are being used by a vehicle without a valid Blue Badge a fine is issued and enforced by the use of a TRO. Stirling Local Authority reports this approach as effective and that the does not identify a need for consideration of other measures to tackle the abuse of reserved parking bays, as the number of complaints from users is very low.
5.1.8 Vehicle removal
This measure involves the physical removal of the offending vehicle if it were found not to display a valid blue badge. Central Parking System Ltd, which has a contract to manage off-street car parks on behalf of Edinburgh City Council, can, and does, tow offending vehicles away to be impounded.
5.2 Other 'Suggested' Measures
The measures below are suggested other measures which are not currently possible or legal for the enforcement of off-street parking in Scotland, but were considered in the study as potential solutions.
5.2.1 Points on driving licence
This measure refers to the use of penalty points being applied to a valid UK driving license of a driver who has parked in a reserved bay without displaying a valid blue badge. It should be noted that this is matter reserved to the UK government and currently not legally possible in Scotland.
5.2.2 Wheel clamping
This measure refers to the use of wheel clamping (and subsequent de-mobilisation of the vehicle) once it has been identified as being parked in a reserved bay without displaying a valid blue badge. Wheel clamping in off-street car parks is illegal in Scotland but has proved to be an effective solution to the abuse of spaces reserved for disabled people in retail parks elsewhere in the UK (e.g. the Trafford Centre in Manchester and the Merry Hill Centre in Dudley). In Scotland wheel clamping is legal in areas of decriminalised parking.
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