Parking scan cars often wrongly issue parking fines
VRT Radio 2’s consumer affairs programme ‘WinWin’ has discovered that local and regional authorities often wrongly issue parking fines based on incorrect information obtained from vehicles equipped with ANPR cameras that are used to ensure that parking regulations are enforced. People that had left a Blue Zone, an area where on weekdays between 9am and 6am parking is permitted for up to 2 hours on condition that a parking disk is displayed and then return later have been issued with parking tickets even though they were not at fault.
The rules are clear: unless otherwise stated you can park in a Blue Zone for up to 2 hours on condition that you use a valid parking disk. Once the 2 hours is up your vehicle must vacate the parking space. More and more city and municipal authorities are now using scan cars to catch motorists that are flouting parking regulations.
The scan cars are equipped with a dozen cameras that both read number plates and take pictures of the parked vehicles surroundings. They drive around and using geolocation, a computer system finds out at lightning speed who has been parked too long and who has not. However, the system is far from foolproof, and motorists are still being fined even though they had not breeched any parking regulations.
Christine from Holsbeek in Flemish Brabant has fallen victim to this several times when she was visiting her daughter in Jette (Brussels). She told the VRT that “My daughter lives in a blue zone where you have to displace a parking disk. I set my alarm every two hours, so I am certain that I don’t stay in the same parking space for two long”.
"I know that you are not allowed to just change the time on your disk. You have to move your vehicle to another space, and I always do this. I move my car at least a couple of spaces further on. I often even park on the other side of the road, but still in the part of the street”.
Nevertheless, Christine has received several erroneous parking fines in the post. The Brussels regional parking agency Parking.brussels admits that in some cases the scan cars are unable to verify whether a car has moved from another space of not. A fine notice is then automatically created and sometimes this is not always cancelled before it is printed off and posted.
However, Parking.brussels spokeswoman Sara Jasmes says that every fine generated by scan cars in a blue parking zone first undergoes a visual check by a traffic warden.
Ms Jasmes added that "A scan vehicle checks 1,200 cars per hour, so that's a lot of information that has to be processed. Sometimes things slip through the net. We do get these kinds of complaints, but not that many. Although I can't put any figures on it."
Parking.brussels says that sometimes things go wrong during visual check or if a motorist returns to exactly the same parking space later in the day. "Sometimes it is difficult to see if the vehicle had been moved if it is still at the same parking space”, Ms Jasmes told the VRT.
However, in Christine’s case it was clear as she always moved her car a couple of spaces or even moved to a space on the other side of the street. Despite this visual checks made by traffic wardens were unable to prevent her being issued with an erroneous parking fine.
Appeal against the fine
Ms Jasmes says that anyone that has been wrongly issued with a parking fine should contact Parking.brussels to challenge the fine or lodge a complaint. It is only then that the fine will be revoked.
This is what Christine did. " Whenever I receive a fine I call parking.brussels to challenge it. They looked at the photos taken by the scan cars to check whether I had done anything wrong. My fines were waived each time. But it took time and effort each time to get this done."
Issues outside Brussels too
The phenomenon is not only an issue in Brussels. The same thing happens in municipalities and cities outside the capital too. Optimal Parking Control (OPC) is the company that checks that parking regulations are being upheld in blue parking zones in many of Flanders 300 municipalities.
OPC’s Peter Lamens told VRT News that "If you quickly go back and park in the same spot after having first left the parking space, misunderstandings often arise. If you move to a different spot, the system can detect this with an accuracy of between 1 and 2 metres."
No solution at hand
The scan car system is not flawless, and the Belgian Parking Federation acknowledges this. The federation does point out that there is a difference between the letter and the spirit of the law.
"A blue zone often exists in places with a lot of housing. Residents therefore need to find parking easily. If everyone parks in the same spot again after a tour of the neighbourhood, it misses the point of the Blue Zone."
A solution to the problem is not immediately forthcoming. "We currently have no human or technical means at hand to prevent this from happening"; the Federation’s spokesperson told the VRT.
The Federation’s Chairman Roland Cracco told VRT News that everything possible must be done to prevent fines being issued erroneously.