Council admits it has performance target for wardens
It said the performance target financially penalises the private company which operates its parking enforcement system if a certain number of parking tickets are not issued per year.
It is one of the first instances that a local authority has publicly confessed to operating a system whereby private firms contracted to oversee parking on public roads are incentivised to issue a certain number of tickets.
Industry insiders claim the existence of performance targets are common in local authorities in large urban areas who have contracted out parking enforcement measures to private companies.
Under the terms of a new parking contract due to come into effect later this year, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council expects the successful bidder to issue 32,400 valid parking tickets per annum, or 2,700 per month. The figure equates to around 100 parking tickets per day once Sundays and bank holidays are excluded.
As a result, the council hopes to recoup €4,000 on a daily basis from motorists.
If the traffic wardens don’t meet the quota, the company will be penalised €1,200 for every 100 parking tickets of a shortfall.
The council had consistently rejected suggestions it operates a “quota system” on the basis that traffic wardens can benefit on an individual basis for the number of parking tickets they issue.
Apoca, the private firm which operates the outgoing contract for the local authority, had denied there is a quota system in place.
However, a Dun Laogh-aire-Rathdown County Council spokeswoman now admits it is the council’s “normal practice” to include “performance objectives and targets” in seeking tenders for supply of services.
She revealed the baseline target of 2,700 parking tickets per month under the new contract is lower than the quota of the current system.
Padraic Hanley, the owner of Ouzo’s restaurants in Blackrock and Dalkey, and who has campaigned against parking enforcement levels in the Dun Laoghaire area, said he was “shocked” at confirmation of the use of a target system.
“It really is unacceptable. It is strongly anti-business and is plain wrong. It also proves the fact that the issuing of parking tickets is very profitable,” said Mr Hanley who at one stage paid a team of “parking angels” to top-up parking meters.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last year raised €6m from parking, of which some €1.25m came from the payment of parking fines by motorists.
Apoca issued 37,317 parking tickets in 2011 — almost 5,000 more than the new quota. However, the number of parking tickets has fallen from a high of over 41,000 in 2009.
Business owners in the Dun Laoghaire area have regularly complained about the aggressive nature of traffic wardens, which they claim drives many shops out of business, despite motorists being given a 15-minute grace period after their parking ticket expires.
