Police read riot act on illegal parkin
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METROPOLITAN Police is unable to control illegal parking by In coach drivers because it has no legal standing abroad, and esentatives from the force have told the House of Commons sport committee that despite identifying habitual overseas nders, they are virtually powerless.
le transport committee's in/ into transportation in Lonheard last week that there is )cute shortage of off-highparking for coaches. This is -avated by the regular loss of ting temporary parks for re?lopment.
Foreign vehicles pose a 1;ial problem. The fixed penprocedure is often negated he driver returning home be fore the end of the statutory period.
"The Police have issued educational pamphlets on parking in a number of foreign languages, but here too the absence of offhighway alternatives cancels much of the Police initiative," it said.
In 1978 the Metropolitan Police issued 140,000 fixed penalty notices to foreign drivers — 9.4 per cent of the country's total ticket allocation. Last year, Wardens also made a note of foreign coach operators' addresses. When some of these operators received six or more notices, the police wrote to them but received no replies.
While the Police are critical of all illegally parked vehicles, they do not necessarily accept that on-the-spot fines are the answer. Assistant commissioner, traffic and technical support, John Wilson, agreed that the £6 parking fine for motorists is a "standing joke", and like most of the other witnesses who have appeared before the select committee, Mr Wilson and his colleagues are critical of London's roads system.
"Because of layout irregularities, the network is ill-equipped to deal with the orbital nature of traffic generated within London itself."
While it welcomes the M25 orbital route, the Metropolitan Police agrees with many other parties who say that the motorway will help but not solve London's traffic problems.