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End of the road for parking firm
CLOSING IN ... an Apcoa parking officer in action. But its contract looks unlikely to be renewed.
COUNCIL bosses are planning a major car parking shake-up in South Tyneside as a result of the “poor performance” of its existing enforcer.
For the past five years, Apcoa UK has been responsible for looking after car parks and handing out parking tickets.
But amid Town Hall concerns over the performance of the Middlesex-based firm – particularly over the thorny issue of parking notices – councillors are being recommended to try a new approach.
That could mean a trial period where a voluntary organisation takes responsibility for on and off-street parking enforcement, with the council also taking a more direct role.
Apcoa parking attendants were regularly criticised in the council chamber at South Shields Town Hall and on the Gazette’s letters page over claims they are ‘over-zealous’.
That has fuelled a perception among some motorists that the council has used them as a cash-generating tool.
On occasions, wrong tickets were issued by Apcoa officials, requiring the intervention of council staff.
And the company has been fined a number of times as a result.
Next week, the council’s cabinet will be recommended to put the contract up for tender, once Apcoa’s current deal runs out at the end of January, and not take up a two-year extension to the current arrangement.
They hope a voluntary organisation, which targets recruitment from the long-term unemployed, will show it can deliver the parking enforcement service over a successful trial period.
Members will be told the authority will also need to fork out £250,000 to provide hardware, IT equipment and a CCTV vehicle.
A report to the committee, to be presented by Coun Jim Perry, the council’s lead member for environment and transport, reveals the cost of providing a car parking service currently amounts to £1.1m a year – and generates an income of £1.45m.
Coun Perry says: “In recent years there have been issues over the management of the contract.
“Lack of consistency in the management of the contract has required additional support being provided from the council’s parking staff.
“There is also evidence of poor performance in the issue of parking charge notices.
“This included wrongly-issued tickets, which has required regular intervention by council staff. A number of defaults were issued in the past 12 months to address such problems.
“A revised model of service delivery could be considered in a much wider context and would include the separation of the management and enforcement functions.
“While national companies can provide this type of service, the opportunity for local service providers can also be considered.
“This may enable the third sector to deliver the frontline operation, and offer the council the flexibility it requires. A number of local third sector organisations target recruitment from the long-term unemployed.
“The new tender would be amended to include a greater element of staffing flexibility, which will enable greater staff numbers to be available at peak times, like the Great North Run.”
If the committee backs the ‘third sector’ option, it would proceed on an initial 26-week trial basis, and would be managed by the council’s in-house parking team.
No one from Apcoa was available for comment.
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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Comments
There are 20 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
flange73
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 06:13 AMI read this article with a hint of a smile on my face as I have been one of the many people who have come face to face with one of these vile parking enforcement robots. They are target driven and need to collect as many tickets per shift as possible so that they can justify there jobs and build gross profit for both Apcoa and STC! I don't and won't pay to park my car (I pay enough tax with road tax, fuel duty and insurance premium tax) why pay to park as well? King Street is now a deserted shopping area which once used to be a great place to shop, but now as many others do my family prefer to visit the Viking Centre in Jarrow or the Galleries in Washington. The Labour council are trying to use motorists to fund the black hole left by council in-efficiency as they are not allowed to put up the council tax. More and more areas of 'paid parking' are cropping up all over the area, Next to Town Hall, alongside the Marine park, river drive, need I go on. The council need to realise that they are killing our town. We once had a FREE multi story car park which was great for the town centre, but now you cannot park anywhere. I would rather park in the streets around the town than pay, but the more and more people doing this will make it a living hell for the residents who live there. Come on STC get your act together and make a U-turn and bring back FREE PARKING before it is too late!!!!
anon1234
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 10:46 PMin regards to hayley3145 comment council always receives the fine money pays APCOA what they get and pocket the rest. If you work out an average of £25 per fine and multiply that by 40 or should i say the benchmark the council expect if they have 8 deployed they want at least 6 from each officer so that's a week that's around £1200.
anon1234
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 10:40 PMI know from first hand what the company is like with the dubious reputation for people getting the wrong tickets. As for the wages it is ridiculous i mean basic wages for the amount of stick a enforcement officer can get even from passer by's. As for removing all parking enforcement in the town and foreshore it would be anarchy and idiotic.
Dez
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 12:06 AMhmmm well well well i visited shields town centre today (sat ) only to use natwest in king street because i had to but after visiting the bank i noticed strait over from the bank that the pound shop was thee only busy shop around. how sad it was to see king srreet sort of deserted. oh and i got free parking in natwest carpark at the back :-)) sorry fat cats yous didnt get a penny parking from me and never ever will. i think we all should do a demo outside the town hall to wake these fat cats up over parking charges and cause them a big bad head over this isue and hope this gives them a wake up call as i think they sit in office asleep all day dreaming how to shovel more money from joe public. So i see town hall has plastic flowers to save money & the water bill and after my night shift i decided to drive home via the coast and noticed they have even kept the flood lights off that light the town hall up.Dont bother putting christmas lights up and christmas trees in the town as everyone is going to the bridges,jarrow,washington,gateshead,team vally,newcastle,eldon square. so dont bother wasting public money.
hayley4315
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 04:35 PMi believe this firm pays staff under £14k a year, wonder how much cash was taken by issuing fines AND WHO trousered the exrtra dosh? but as has already been written south shields is dead , dead ,dead, fee parking too late. When the subsidies to Debenhams and Next run out,,,, concrete the town over.last one out turn orf the lights.
Geoff57
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 11:35 AMSo Mr Malcolm is hopping mad about how the current organisation running their money raking scheme behaves against their customers (us poor saps) and now wants to ditch them for a more cost effective 'Big Society' type sheme - in the hope that this will make the money raking scheme more attractive to their customers (us poor saps). Unfortunately our leaders in the Town Hall won't listen to the clamour against all the pay for parking schemes that have sprung up around South Shields over recent years and which like Japanese Knotwood continues to spread and is equally as difficult to get rid of, as it would seem is this insane pursuit of an ever dwindling pot of gold from a shopping populace that has finally woke up and now seeks to travel to other towns and cities where they can park unfettered and spend their hard earned cash and bring income and joy to the coffers of the businesses and Councils where they shop - while we stand back and continue to view the continuing demise of a once thriving and bustly seaside shopping centre - so Mr Malcolm is there any chance that you will be announcing a U Turn on all these pay for parking schemes and emulate those towns that actually reward parkers for visiting their town instead of driving them out - it is isn't the overzealousness of the current company Apcoa UK running the schemes but the policy of your Council that is harming the town, and recommending a new approach to councillors without the removal of the draconian parking schemes will get the town nowhere and like a ring road we will be back to this issue time and time again while big name companies leave the town and big name charity shops enter the town and more shops close. Not rocket science - as demonstrated by those who now shop elsewhere.
Aquila
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 01:53 AMI'm another Sanddancer thats never goes to South Shields to shop or even use the resteraunts at the sea front, why because of the parking charges of course!!! free to park at Washington and Jarrow as already mentioned, and Sunderland has free parking all the way along its sea front, you even have to pay in the winter time in Shields including the Marsden car park too!!! it wont be long before King st is just like Frederick st !!! hang on thats right ............ it already is
geordie999
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 10:41 PMlabour council cashing in on condems big society con ?............ get rid of all parking restrictions and town centre might become alive again , as it is it is dead ...................... if i were unemployed and forced to be a parking warden everyone could park where they wanted to (free of charge no tickets ) maybe it might work after all ?
PeskySonic
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 10:37 PMI second what "SickandTired" and "Dez" say. Free parking for Shields is required NOW. I also go to Jarrow, Washington, Team Valley and the MetroCentre as they are ALL FREE to park. Wake up council and SAVE £1.1million for all of us.
billy casper
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 07:41 PMhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm contract is up for grabs,,,looks like they are going to try and shuffle the unemployment numbers,,could work out canny,get some fella who dont ant to work to issue the tickets,and lets hope he cant be botherd to issue the tickets,,,,great idea south tyne side
Dez
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 07:36 PMSouth tyneside council should allow free parking in this area as hardly anyone comes to this town centre as people dont have the funds to pay for parking. and even so the price of a rip off parking ticket. i understand if people park in a restricted area then yes it serves them right receiving a ticket. But ill never come to south shields town centre because of the charges as now ill go to the bridges or the metro centre were its warm to shop as south shields town centre is a total mess and realy nothing there to shop for as the greedy council charge far to much rates in this town so companys take there buissnes else were. Lets see free parking in south shields you greedy fat cats in the town hall. to be honest i hope yous all choke on your christmas dinners
james1
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 07:28 PMi will do the job single handedly and i will only charge the council £25000 per year thats a great saving dont say i didnt offer when the price goes up
sickandtired
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 05:37 PMIntresting, it takes 1.1 million a year to run, heres a thought. Getting rid of these lepers will save the council (that means you and me) 1.1 million a year. Add to this free parking for the whole town and we are well on the way to re-vitalisng the area. We will also have the bonus of less job losses in the public sector. A no brainer me thinks. If any reader knows a councilor please pass this message on.
laurazora
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 05:05 PMWell this is wonderful, my partner has worked at APCOA for a few months now, he works hard and only issues tickets where restrictions have been violated. Do you realise these ladies and gentlemen are on minimum wage, there are no bonuses, though many of the public believe this to be true and they take abuse on a daily basis including that of a physical nature and often from Joe public regardless of whether or not they are even facing a sanction. I'd like to see the firm who gets the volunteers for this. As for a programme for those unemployed, will this be yet another firm in South Tyneside jumping on the government bandwagon in the name of charitable business so that they can roll out three month placements but never actually give anyone a job out of it and in effect are doing our economy out of jobs that would otherwise be there for those who actually want them. I'll wait and see, maybe my partner can get a placement there, let's face it, he's had all the training, now he can do it for free!
The Oncoming Storm
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 04:18 PM'They hope a voluntary organisation, which targets recruitment from the long-term unemployed, will show it can deliver the parking enforcement service over a successful trial period.' By 'voluntary' I assume this means 'You do this or lose your dole money'?
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