Putney High Street in Nation's Top Ten for Driving Fines
Freedom of Information request shows over £500,000 given out in a year
Over 8,000 PCNs issued in one year. Picture: Wandsworth Council
Putney High Street has made the list of the roads in the UK where the most driving fines are issued.
The data was collected by price-comparison site Confused.com by asking each local authority which road in its area was the location for the highest number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) in the financial year 2020/21.
Wandsworth Council revealed that Putney High Street had seen 8,751 issued at a total value of £538,655.
This was the tenth highest in the country, with all of those in the top ten in London. The High Street got off lightly compared to Browning Road in Newham where more than £3million in fines were given out and Dermody Road in Lewisham where the total was not far behind with five streets seeing over a million pounds worth of fines doled out.
Drivers could be issued a penalty charge notice (PCN) for various reasons, including parking offences, straying into bus lanes or blocking a yellow box junction.
The data reveals £19.5 million was collected by councils for offences committed on the top 103 streets over the 12 month period. And £3.3 million of this was collected on the worst offending street in the East London Borough of Newham alone.
| MOST EXPENSIVE STREETS IN LONDON FOR PENALTY CHARGE NOTICES ISSUED TO DRIVERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Council | Street | Amount | Number of tickets |
| Newham | Browning Road | £3,316,255 |
67,557 |
| Lewisham | Dermody Road | £2,956,171 |
48,223 |
| Hackney | Lansdowne Drive | £2,826,415 |
47,783 |
| City of London | Cornhill | £1,831,270 |
30,943 |
| Tower Hamlets | Wapping High Street | £1,061,068 |
18,681 |
| Barking & Dagenham | Station Parade | £937,764 |
15,152 |
| Havering | Tangent Link | £846,892 |
11,319 |
| Harrow | Charlton Road / D’Arcy Avenue | £655,201 |
12,415 |
| Camden | Southampton Row | £599,597 |
8,740 |
| Wandsworth | Putney High Street | £538,655 |
8,751 |
More than half (52%) of motorists who received a PCN for a parking offence said they appealed it. However, data shows that more than 7 in 10 (73%) of appeals made were successful, with drivers either paying a reduced price or nothing at all. The top reasons for drivers to appeal were because they felt the
Alex Kindred, Car Insurance Expert at Confused.com, commented, “Just like many of our motoring bills, the cost of penalty charge notices (PCNs) is an extra strain on the pockets of drivers.
“A third (33%) of drivers believe that councils should spend more money on making road signs clearer, so that drivers don’t have to fork out for unfair fines in the first place. In turn, this would make roads safer, drivers less confused, and help to reduce the cost of driving.
“Our research found that more than half (52%) of motorists who received a PCN for a parking offence have appealed it. But only a small number of drivers (6%) feel that their local council has an easy process to appeal a PCN fine.
“If you've received a PCN fine, you might be able to challenge the decision if you think it was unfair. The process may vary depending on your local authority, so it's important to check this before doing so. If you wish to challenge your fine, you should do so within 28 days. Our checklist offers further guidance on what to expect from the process and the type of evidence you may need in order to support your appeal.”
We asked Wandsworth Council for a comment on the figures but have not received a reply.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
July 15, 2022