Parking the target of 'enforcers' - The Coventry Observer

Parking the target of 'enforcers'

Coventry Editorial 22nd Jan, 2015 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

COVENTRY City Council has announced plans to tackle the issue of illegal and dangerous parking outside schools with the use of a CCTV ‘enforcement vehicle’.

Enforcement officers will use the vehicle on patrols each morning and afternoon at the city’s schools, photographing any offending vehicles that park on the zig-zag lines or ‘keep clear’ sections of the roads.

Drivers whose vehicle has been photographed with the Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera (ANPR) contravening these rules, will be issued with a fixed penalty charge notice.

The roads outside school entrances are clearly marked and painted with the zig-zags and ‘keep clear’ areas for the safety of both children and parents.




Vehicles are not permitted to park or stop on these marked areas for any period of time, but these regulations are regularly ignored putting the lives of children in clear danger.

One of the biggest causes of accidents and injuries involving children outside school are cars parked in these areas blocking sight lines and forcing children to step out into the road to cross -potentially into the path of oncoming vehicles.


With the numbers of vehicles dropping off and collecting children from schools increasing, the council has taken the decision to introduce the ANPR system which will work in tandem with the Civil Enforcement Officers (CEO’s) who will also patrol on foot.

The ANPR vehicle will be able to visit more school sites across the city and provide a quicker response than officers on foot.

Coun Rachel Lancaster, Cabinet Member for Public Services said: “The ongoing issue of dangerous parking outside schools is becoming more and more of a problem of safety for both children and parents.

“The time has now come to do everything we can to combat this problem and the ANPR vehicle is something that we feel has the possibility of making a real difference in tackling the number of drivers clearly breaking the regulations of parking near school entrances.

“The message is clear and straight forward – if you break the rules on parking near schools which are in place to keep our children safe, then there will be no hiding place and you will receive a ticket and a fine.”

Along with monitoring outside schools, the vehicle will also patrol known parking ‘hot-spots’ throughout the city, in areas where it isn’t always viable or practical for foot patrols to visit.

The ANPR vehicle began service on Monday (January 19).

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