Westminster City Council under fire over use of CCTV to collect parking fines

Labour councillors have called for an urgent review of the use of CCTV cameras by Westminster City Council to collect parking fines.

There are around 250 CCTV cameras in Westminster which are scheduled to collect around £5 million in fines in 2008/09.
 
Labour say that the use of CCTV to collect more money from motorists is penalising residents who simply stop for a couple of minutes to go to the shops or drop off a passenger and then get a demand for over a £100 as a parking fine when they did not even know they were breaking the law.
 
Last week, writing in the 'Daily Telegraph', journalist Bryony Gordon wrote: "When does a rolling pin cost £123.99? When you park outside a shop, rush in and buy one and, three days later, receive a letter from Westminster City Council which features a sinister CCTV picture of a car and a £120 fine for sticking it in a restricted loading zone for a grand total of four minutes."
 
Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said: "Bryony Gordon's story is one I am hearing more and more from Westminster residents who are fed up being used like a cash machine by Westminster Conservatives.

"The council's reputation for using parking fines as a money grabbing venture is growing day by day and it will inevitably damage the council badly.
 
"People do not believe they should be fined for a couple of minutes' stop outside a shop or to drop off a passenger. With parking wardens you could see whether the 'coast was clear'.

"With cameras, however, you always get caught. As a non-driver myself I have no personal axe to grind but I can sympathise with those who do drive and are just trying to get round Westminster and live a normal everyday life."