Decriminalised parking enforcement

The Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40) provided for the decriminalisation of parking-related contraventions committed within controlled parking zones (CPZ) administered by local councils across the UK.

However, some parking offences can still be enforced by the police with fines, failure to comply with which could lead to criminal proceedings and even the adding of points on the driving licence of the offender.

Without DPE, fixed penalties (not fines, because the recipient can exercise their right to a Court hearing instead) from the issue of parking tickets by the police is collected by Fixed Penalty Offices (each of which is part of a local Magistrates' Court in each county or metropolitan area) and passed directly to central government.

These bodies are tribunals established under DPE; appeals against their decisions can generally be made only on points of law, through judicial review.

[6] Claimed benefits for DPE include:[citation needed] The summary of an inquiry into parking policy and enforcement by the Transport Committee of the House of Commons[7] states: In addition to the main task of introducing a unified system of parking enforcement in Britain, we have found that the following action is required: