MP calls on council to end NCP car parking contract

He wants it to end its contract with NCP and run the scheme with its own staff.

In a letter to the council's director of transport and environment, the MP asked the council to consider ending the arrangement with NCP.

If the cost to the taxpayer from ending the contract early would be prohibitive, he wants it to agree in principle that the five-year contract will not be renewed.

In the meantime he wants NCP to deploy 'a lighter touch'.

The parking scheme has come under criticism with town traders who say it has killed business.

Wardens have been accused of being over zealous.

Examples include the ticketing of people with disabled badges displayed the wrong way round.

A vicar was ticketed while he gave a Good Friday service and a van belonging to a brass band was slapped with a fine while members were taking part in a Remembrance Sunday service.

Mr Baker said : 'Enough is enough. The heavy-handed and warden-intensive approach of NCP has swung public opinion firmly against the scheme and I believe drastic changes are now needed.

'Policing the scheme with the county's own staff would allow a less intensive and more sensitive approach to be adopted, which would both save on costs and help rebuild public support for the scheme.

'It should be remembered that the concept of a residents' parking scheme for Lewes is one that a majority of people in the town supported when polled. Unfortunately that goodwill has been thrown away by the aggressive approach taken by NCP with the approval of the county council '“ dishing out parking tickets on Good Friday, or to motorists displaying their disabled badge the wrong way up, even issuing penalties in the short time between people leaving their cars to get a ticket from the nearest machine and returning to their car to display it.

'The county council cannot carry on as they are and must listen to local people who want changes to this scheme.'

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said: 'The undeniable fact is that since our enforcement contract with NCP Services began, there has been a marked improvement in congestion levels in Lewes with people having to drive shorter distances to find parking spaces and less selfish, illegal parking.

'Lewes has one of the lowest proportion of parking tickets overturned at independent appeals in the whole of the UK and there are absolutely no targets or incentives for parking attendents to issue more tickets.

'NCP Services won the contract during a fair and transparent tendering process.

'Its bid represented better value for money and promised better operational success than any other and so the contract was the best option for the council taxpayer.

'It should also be noted that the reason NCP Services has been so successful in winning these sorts of contracts up and down the country is that its staff have an excellent record in firm but fair management of parking schemes.

'We are very happy with their performance.'

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