Seven sacked over bogus parking fines

Parking attendants working for one of the capital's biggest parking contractors have been sacked for issuing bogus fines.

In the latest embarrassment for Apcoa, which operates in eight London boroughs, seven attendants were found guilty of g ross misconduct while working on behalf of Lambeth council.

They were found to have issued tickets in the Brixton area on cars that were legally parked. They also used computer details of cars ticketed in the past to send their owners bogus fines.

Details emerged when Lambeth and Apcoa launched a joint investigation after irregularities were spotted on a number of tickets, most of them issued last year.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "It is absolutely outrageous that bogus tickets have been issued to motorists. It makes it all the more important that if a driver has any doubt whatsoever about a ticket, they should challenge it."

Apcoa, which also works in Southwark, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth and Camden, was paid £4.2 million in 2000-01 to run the parking enforcement contract in Lambeth.

In the financial year to April 2002, Lambeth received more than £11 million from parking fines and meter revenue. It made a "profit" of almost £3.5 million, although this money has to be reinvested in transport-related schemes, such as concessionary fares for the elderly.

Last month the Evening Standard revealed details of an Apcoa scheme to reward attendants if they reached ticketing targets in Westminster.

There have also been claims that employees are refused overtime opportunities unless they return from shifts with at least 16 tickets.

The 90-strong team of Apcoa wardens in Lambeth have now been warned they face "stiff disciplinary action" that could end in dismissal if they are found to have issued bogus tickets.

"Exactly why the seven parking attendants did what they did is not known," an Apcoa spokesman said.

"It was certainly not for personal gain, because parking attendants are not remunerated according to the number of tickets issued."

The attendants, who were inherited by Apcoa from the previous parking contractor in Lambeth, were suspended immediately. They were sacked in March but this has only just come to light because they were entitled to appeal.

David Evans, Lambeth's head of street care, called on motorists to contact the council in writing if they had concerns about the validity of a parking ticket.

"Not every ticket issued by these attendants was false," he said. "However, we are studying every challenge we receive from motorists where these people were concerned."

The company has also issued its staff in Lambeth with digital cameras to provide pictorial evidence of all parking infringements.

Although Apcoa workers across London take pictures of vehicles about to be clamped or removed, the use of them to record tickets is a new development. A spokesman said the move followed an extensive trial period and was not prompted by the sacking of the seven staff.