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Parking Enforcement in Denbighshire
Denbighshire County Council is responsible for providing Civil Enforcement Officers who manage the parking of vehicles on streets in the County. A number of streets have restrictions as to the nature by time and duration of parking and any motorist not heeding these restrictions will be likely to receive a parking ticket if found by a Civil Enforcement Officer in contravention of the restriction.
Decriminalised Parking
In Denbighshire a parking ticket was issued by a police officer or traffic warden prior to 01 July 2004 because the driver had committed a criminal offence such as parking on double yellow lines. The money raised from the fine went to the Treasury in London; it did not go to our local police nor was it retained within our own area. If the fine was not paid it was recoverable through the Magistrates Courts. The driver’s licence could also be endorsed.
Responsibility for enforcing waiting, loading and parking regulations within the Council’s area has transferred from the local police force to Denbighshire County Council. Under this system such offences are no longer criminal offences but are now civil offences. They are still serious, however, and will be dealt with accordingly. Although it sounds like you are able to park anywhere you like, it doesn’t actually mean that at all.
The enforcement system has, by law, to be self-financing so money raised from the parking enforcement operation as a whole is put to this purpose – i.e. it pays for the Civil Enforcement Officers, the costs of processing fines and so on.
After these costs have been absorbed, if there is any money left over which has been raised from on-street payments (on-street pay and display machines), parking fines, pay and display machines in car parks or even from the sale of residents’ parking permits, it is ring-fenced by law and has to be transferred to the local highways authority. The highways authority, in turn, is only permitted to use that money to finance transport-related improvements within our area.
In contrast, any money raised from off-street parking (from both fines and pay and display machines) is NOT ring-fenced. The Council may use this money for any purpose.