Morebus director calls for government to raise parking fines

Andrew Wickham, managing director of Morebus, says harsher penalties must be granted by central government to combat an issue he feels has become considerably worse within the last year.

This comes after illegally parked cars blocked access and prevented the new Morebus number 12 open top bus from reaching its stop at Boscombe Pier on Sunday.

Discussions will soon take place between Morebus, BCP Council and other bodies including Dorset Police on how the situation will be tackled.

Mr Wickham told the Echo: “People are really quick to blame BCP Council for this but it isn’t BCP who are parking vehicles illegally. Following the debacle [on Sunday], the council has already been on to us to set up a discussion about it to work out what can be done.

Open top Morebus vehicle passing through East Overcliff Drive with some illegally parked cars

“Because we hadn’t operated that route before Sunday we didn’t really understand the particular problems we may come across – but it does appear that people are less inclined to follow the rules these days.

“Everything has a price and our view is the level of penalties for people that park in places where it’s obvious that you shouldn’t must be increased because at the moment it’s just too low.

“BCP can’t do this on their own. We’d be very happy to lobby central government to get those rules changed because clearly this situation can’t continue as it is. We simply can’t have buses unable to finish their route because of parked cars.”

Local authorities are unable to dictate the price of parking fines in public roads.

Council member for culture and vibrant places Cllr Beverley Dunlop previously said: “We have been lobbying hard to get parking fines increased and will keep lobbing.”

Pavement parking seen by Boscombe Pier on Saturday

She also highlighted complexities around mass vehicle towing, stating each tow process results in a minimum 90-minute round trip in traffic.

Mr Wickham continued: “The priority shouldn’t be punishing people that do it, it should be stopping them from doing it in the first place. We will support any measures that mean people don’t park like this.

“Nothing I’m saying is about a war on motorists, it’s just about getting people to comply with the rules that are in place because the knock-on effects can be awful. If a bus can’t get through a road, neither can a fire engine.”

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “[We have] been working closely with Morebus to reduce delays to its services brought about by very large visitor numbers around the seafront area and will continue to try and keep routes clear.”

The number 12 route will continue running until mid-September before returning next summer.