Wardens to capture parked cars on camera

Every parking offence in the centre of London is to be captured on digital camera under a scheme launched today.

The images will be used by Westminster council to prove wardens acted lawfully after a backlash against "over-zealous" enforcement of parking regulations.

However, the photos could also be used by drivers to prove their innocence.

As part of a new "motorists' charter", council officials are pledging that within six months they will handle complaints over "unfair" tickets in 10 days - down from the current 18. In a year, the council promises, the time taken to process an appeal will have fallen to only five days.

As part of the drive to prove their even-handedness, Westminster parking wardens are also being issued with handheld computers. These will be programmed with the restrictions in place on each road being patrolled.

Parking attendants will be unable to issue tickets for offences not recognised by the software. If an attendant tries to ticket a car at 6.31pm and the restrictions end at 6.30pm, the machine will refuse to print a ticket.

To further speed the handling of ticket payments and complaints, Westminster is investing ?6.5 million in new office computers.

Insiders at the council predicted that the number of tickets issued by the borough would fall following the new move. They also said the proportion of "unfair" tickets would plummet.