Thousands of parking fines handed out in BCP this year

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Daily Echo to BCP Council, reveals that 63,531 fixed penalty notices (FNPs) were handed out across the conurbation between September 2020 and September 2021.

It was an increase of 2,389 FPNs compared to the previous year when 61,142 fines were distributed to drivers between September 2019 to September 2020.

An increase of 2,389 fines

This year saw records broken as thousands of people flocked to our beaches and thousands of parking tickets were issued.

Parking fines were issued to those who parked irresponsibly, with a priority on on-street seafront areas, where a high level of vehicles had parked in contravention causing issues for moving traffic and emergency vehicles.

Alongside this, 44 cars were towed in the year - the same as the previous year.

Car being towed this summer: BCP Council

This summer also saw the introduction of the Park and Ride service at Kings Park in Boscombe and Poole’s Civic Centre. 

Between May and August more than 8,300 people used the park and ride services.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “It was an incredibly busy year due to such a large number of visitors heading to the BCP Council area during the summer months. Over 3,750,000 people visited between April and the end of August 2021.

“We had learnt our lessons from what happened in 2020 and were much better prepared for this summer’s high number of visitors.

 "We tried to increase options for those wanting to visit our beaches, including the introduction of a park and ride service which received very good feedback, and we enhanced signage, so visitors and residents were able to enjoy the area without parking irresponsibly.  Inevitably, some still decided to ignore the options available, and to cope with that we also significantly increased parking enforcement, including towing. 

READ MORE: Record breaking 1,300 parking fines issued across BCP

READ MORE: 800 parking tickets issued in Bournemouth during weekend

Illegal parking in Bournemouth this summer

“It has been a huge undertaking by civil enforcement officers and our associated operational teams as the council has worked extremely hard to manage the demand, particularly across the seafront and parks areas.

“Although the weather was not as good as in 2020, there were more visitors and we are very pleased with our response during these challenging times.

“We are reviewing the way we work, looking at what went well, how we dealt with incidents and what we can learn ready for next year.”