Outstanding parking fines (FOI)

Request

A

How many parking fines handed out by the government are still outstanding?

B

How much money is owed collectively for these outstanding parking fines?

C

How far back does the longest outstanding parking fine go?

D

What is the process the government undertakes to try and recover outstanding parking fines?

Response

A

The Government of Jersey, acting through the Jersey Car Parking trading operation, issues Excess Charge Notices (ECNs) for offences under the Road Traffic (Public Parking Places (Jersey) Order 2006 and the Road Traffic (Sand Street Car Park) (Jersey) Order 2012. Parking Fines are not issued by Jersey Car Parking, as a fine may only be issued by the Courts.

In line with the accounting policy explained in the answer to Q3 any unpaid ECNs older than three years are treated as irrecoverable and are closed. The number of unpaid ECNs that are still showing as outstanding is 1,762 for the period of 2016 to 2018. The outstanding ECNs are where the driver of the vehicle is not a Jersey resident so cannot be issued with a summons to the Magistrate’s Court or the vehicle is not a Jersey registered vehicle and we are unable to get any details on the owner from the relevant authority, DVLA or similar for other countries. 2019 unpaid ECNs are currently either awaiting summons to be issued or have not yet reached the summons stage so are not included in this figure.

B

Income from fines arising from ECNs referred to the Courts is not credited to the Jersey Car Parking trading operation, as fine income is treated as general income of the States. As such, Jersey Car Parking’s accounting policy is to treat as irrecoverable (for accounting purposes) any ECNs older than three years, or those which have been referred to the Courts.

The amount outstanding in respect of 2016 to 2018 ECNs as at 31 July 2019 is £105,720

Information on the number of parking cases heard before the Courts can be found in the Court Service Annual Reports, the most recently published of which can be found on www.gov.je using the following link:

Court Service Annual Report 2017

C

Based on available records the oldest outstanding ECN dates back to 2003.

D

Once an ECN is issued there is a period of seven working days for offences in Sand Street Car Park and three working days in all other Department administered car parks which allows for a discounted settlement.

Once the discount period has expired, if the Excess Charge remains unsettled, a letter is sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle advising the full amount is now due and that a Summons will be issued if it remains unsettled 28 days after being issued. A further reminder letter is sent out to the registered keeper of the vehicle 21 days after the Excess Charge was issued if it remains unpaid.

Finally, 28 days after being issued, if an Excess Charge remains unsettled, the details of this are passed to the Parish in which the car park where the fine was issued is situated, for a summons to be issued under the offence of failing to pay an Excess Charge within the specified time. The Parish concerned will then issue a summons for the driver to attend the Magistrate’s Court. Failure to attend at the Magistrate’s Court results in an arrest order being placed on the registered keeper of the vehicle.

At the time of a summons being issued Jersey Car Parking disregard the outstanding amount as any fine payment imposed by the Court goes into States General Revenue rather than the Jersey Car Parking Trading Account.

In the event of the vehicle not being registered in Jersey efforts are made to trace the keeper / driver and to recover the outstanding amount.