Manchester's Parking Woes Continue

11.37.47am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 26th Nov 2004

Figures released this week show that Manchester's notorious Parking Service is still amongst the worst in the country.

The latest annual report from the National Parking Adjudicators shows that people in Manchester arefivetimes more likely to appeal parking tickets than residents of Liverpool.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member Councillor Paul Shannon, who sits on Manchester Council's powerful Executive Committee, said that the latest figures are just not good enough:

"Manchester is 65th-worst out of 72 Councils for the rate of appeals. Coming 8th-from-bottom is hardly cause for celebration. Manchester also had the most appeals (806) in the whole country!"

Contrast this with Liberal Democrat Liverpool: with only 138 appeals last year, it had a top-ten performance as the 8th-best Council in the country for its rate of parking appeals.

"How can residents have confidence in Manchester's Labour Council when it has the most parking appeals in the entire country?" asked Councillor Shannon.

"Manchester's parking performance has improved from "appalling" to merely "poor". There is still a long way to go to convince motorists that the Council are doing a good job and issuing tickets fairly, " he continued.

"Manchester's Liberal Democrats want parking enforcement we can trust. Sadly Council bosses would rather pat themselves on the back than face up to reality," concluded Councillor Shannon.

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