£283,000 of unpaid fines written off

AROUND 9,000 parking fines went uncollected by Oldham Council last year losing taxpayers £283,000.

While motorists who paid promptly were penalised those that didn’t bother were never chased for the cash.

Council chiefs have been blasted by critics for financial incompetence, which also includes not budgeting for £360,000 of road improvements for Lees Road.

A report to a recent cabinet meeting reveals that motorists escaped punishment when the parking penalty notices were written off after being uncollected because of a computer problem.

Written by Councillor Lynne Thompson, cabinet member for finance and resources, it states: “There is a forecast overspend arising from the one–off non-recovery of parking penalty income due to systems failures (£283,000).

“This has arisen as a result of system failures in transferring data from the council to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC). Details of cases where no payment had been received are meant to be transferred to the central TEC for further pursuit, but this data transfer failed for over 12 months and most of the outstanding penalty notice income has had to be written off as a result.”

Independent Saddleworth parish councillor Ken Hulme, who spotted the figures, reacted with anger and astonishment, branding it a crisis of competence.

He said: “What on earth is going on in Oldham Civic Centre? Why did it take them over 12 months to notice that the income from 9,000 parking tickets was not being paid?

“That’s over a quarter of a million pounds just thrown away. I know some people will rejoice but the fact remains that a cash-strapped council has just lost over £250,000 because of a failure by officers to audit the councils income and senior councillors inability it seems to scrutinise the councils finances.”

Labour councillor Peter Dean said: “This is clearly incompetence by the Lib-Dem-controlled council, who have failed to collect monies owed. This leaves a big hole of £283,000 in the council’s already very tight budget and is mismanagement on a gigantic scale.”

He claimed the Department of Economy, People and Skills now has a deficit this year of £3.8 million and that the councillor responsible, Mark Alcock, should resign.

Elsewhere, other examples of overspending include nothing being budgeted for the Lees Road works between Clarksfield and Cross Street, which is forecast at £359,180. And only £1,230 was budgeted for Civic Centre security, with a forecast spend of £16,470.

Councillor Hulme, a former company secretary and director, added: “What sort of Mickey Mouse operation can budget absolutely nothing for a project and then spend over £350,000. Isn’t there any proper financial control going on?”

Councillor Thompson insisted the parking fines would be pursued but had been flagged up as a potential shortfall as it was unclear at the time if they would be collected for that year.

She said the problem was identified when it first occurred but that it took some time to solve, owing to technical difficulties.

The system has been working since December and all cases have been registered with warrants processed.

The Lees Road scheme began in 2005 but took longer and cost more than anticipated because of a public inquiry, which wasn’t budgeted for.

She added: “The money for the final works was therefore not carried forward to this year as would otherwise happen with a lengthy project, hence the zero pound budgeted. The remaining works have been completed for £307,000 and this has had to be found from within the department’s budget. It is situations like this which a new system is designed to prevent.”