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Spy cam racks up £20 grand a month in fines
Tory changes his mind on parking tickets
A CCTV camera monitoring a Hampstead street racks up more than £20,000 a month in parking fines – even though it’s supposed to be catching criminals out rather than motorists.
The camera overlooking the junction of Perrin’s Lane and Hampstead High Street is notorious among parking campaigners and was once a prime target for Conservative councillor Mike Greene as he argued that the footage was being used to raise cash for the council.
He said that residents had lobbied for CCTV for security reasons, not to deal with motoring offences.
Now Cllr Greene, Camden’s environment supremo, heads the department in charge of the camera and is facing questions about why it is still such a money-spinner for the Town Hall.
Figures released to the New Journal yesterday (Wednesday) shows the controversial camera, renowned for trapping drivers making rogue right turns, issued 5,386 tickets in 2006, roughly 450 drivers a month.
If every driver paid the £50 fine on time then the council would have collected £269,300 – breaking down at more than £22,000 a month or around £5,500 a week.
More likely, some of those hit with the penalty will have paid after longer than two weeks and been liable for a fee of £100, so the final income for Camden would have been far higher.
While the total is down from the blaze of nearly 3,000 tickets issued in the first four months that the camera was in operation, it is still one of the council’s most profitable cameras.
Cllr Greene said yesterday (Wednesday): “I find it amazing that people still haven’t learned about the No Right Turn and they are still doing it. But I have made it clear to the department that the priority for this camera is community safety.”
He added: “The camera is not trained on drivers. There is no doubt that the camera has been used for detecting crime. It is there to protect shops and businesses. It can monitor suspicious people and detect things like shoplifting.”
In August 2005 – then a backbench opposition councillor – Cllr Greene said: “Instead of using it for community safety, Camden seems to be milking it for all its worth.”
Labour deputy leader Councillor Theo Blackwell said last night: “Mike was very strident on this issue in opposition. I’m sure residents would expect him to carry through what he campaigned for.” |
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