'Over-zealous and punitive' practice to end in September
Hounslow Council has announced it is to scrap its tow trucks when the contract with NSL Services Group, who carry out the service on behalf of the council, comes to an end in September 2010.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council's Executive after members considered a report compiled by Councillor Paul Fisher.
The report said that a residents had complained that towing away was 'over-zealous and punitive' given that Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were also issued as part of the vehicle removal protocol.
Chiswick Cllr John Todd, who worked closely with Cllr Fisher on this matter, said, "According to the Secretary of State for Transport’s statutory guidance, removal 'should only take place where it gives clear traffic management benefits'. It also recognises that 'the decision on whether to ... remove a vehicle requires an exercise of judgement'.
"By contrast the current removals protocol defines a very wide range of contraventions as suitable for removal. This leads in some cases to removals from residential roads which have no significant traffic management benefits and appear to be done with any exercise of judgement."
He went onto give an example. "A friend witnessed a removal recently in Duke Road, Chiswick. A car was parked in a bay suspended for a short-distance house move, but a medium-sized van was shuttling back and forth between the two houses with no serious inconvenience. A PCN would have been sufficient, but the car was removed. There was in fact a negative net traffic management benefit, as the tow truck itself caused obstruction."
"So we have a service that generates a high level of resentment and mistrust, is a net cost on the council, and often does little for traffic management. It cannot be right to spend money on removing a car from a quiet residential road just because, say, it is parked on a corner and the tow truck is unemployed.
"The removal cost of £200 plus £40 daily storage fee plus the PCN is in my wholly disproportionate and is effectively a weeks wages for some. Over 35% of removals came from Chiswick. I cannot be convinced that our local traffic management benefitted from this draconian action."
Cllr Todd concluded, "Shoplifters and cash point thieves who admit their crime occasionally get a ticket from the police for £80."
Historically Hounslow removes 1,169 vehicles per annum putting them in the lowest quartile of authorities employing a removal policy. By comparison Lambeth with 7,238 removals per annum, and Kensington & Chelsea with 6,625 are at one end of the spectrum whilst Islington is at the other with 316 removals per annum). Westminster City Council still removes 1,573 vehicles despite publicising that they no longer have a vehicle removals policy.
The towing service currently costs the Council approximately £300,000 in a full year. The estimated income arising from the release charges is £240,000 and related PCNs £50,000.
April 26, 2010
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