Council’s spy car to enforce parking rules outside local schools

Launch of South Gloucestershire Council's parking enforcement car.
The parking enforcement car is launched at Wheatfield Primary School, Wheatfield Drive, Bradley Stoke.

Illegal parking on zig-zag and double yellow lines outside local schools is being targeted by a new high-tech ‘parking enforcement’ vehicle recently introduced by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

The car uses GPS technology, coupled with number plate recognition cameras, to record the details of any vehicles it detects in a restricted area.

This information is stored on an on-board computer and double-checked by an officer to confirm that an offence has taken place, before a postal penalty charge notice is issued.

The vehicle was officially launched before the summer holidays at Bradley Stoke’s Wheatfield Primary School, where inconsiderate parking has been a problem for many years.

Headteacher Christine Dursley said:

“We’re very pleased to see the launch of the car and hope it will remind road users about the need to park safely.”

“Cars that park or wait on the zigzags outside the school are a hazard for our pupils, because they stop them seeing the road clearly and make it more difficult to cross safely.”

“We know that the enforcement car can’t be everywhere at once, but hopefully the knowledge that it is out and about at school drop-off times will encourage people to observe the parking regulations and make our roads safer for children and their parents.”

Cllr Claire Young, Chair of South Gloucestershire Council’s Communities Committee, said:

“In South Gloucestershire we’re fortunate to have some of the safest roads in the country and we want to keep them that way.”

“While most road users park safely, some do occasionally park dangerously in restricted areas and the message today is that if you continue to do this, you will receive a fine.”

“We’re urging drivers to check the local parking restrictions and make sure that they park safely and away from restricted areas. Road users particularly need to be aware that driving away when the parking enforcement car approaches is not a defence, because their details will already have been recorded.”

The car is clearly marked with the council livery.

More information: Park legally (SGC)

Where in Bradley Stoke would you like to see the council’s new enforcement car operating? Tell us by leaving a comment on this story.

This article originally appeared in the September edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to all homes in Bradley Stoke.

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16 comments

  1. That’s a bit cheeky, they just painted loads of new double yellows on webbs wood road for whatever school that is. Now everyone will park further down the adjacent streets. Sounds like a council/police money making scheme. Probably to pay for that new car!!

  2. Don’t in anyway want to condone dodgy parking around schools but I’m intrigued by the statement “Road users particularly need to be aware that driving away when the parking enforcement car approaches is not a defence, because their details will already have been recorded.”

    How does that work – how does it distinguish between cars that have stopped to let another car through and then pulled away, and those cars that have parked up, seen the car and then driven away.

  3. As I have to walk past lots of dangerously parked cars outside a local school on my way to work each day, I think this is a good thing. These people just do not think about the safety of other road users, pedestrians and even their own children when they park near to junctions, on roundabouts, opposite other cars in narrow streets, on the pavements, blocking driveways etc etc. Most of them only live short distances away and could walk.
    But, as resident evil pointed out, this car will only make them park inconsiderately in adjacent streets!

  4. How about just parking properly so that the council doesn’t have to waste money on buying the car, kitting it out and then dealing with the admin.

    Or, and here’s a redical suggestion, why don’t you walk instead of driving.

    A wonderful dichotomy, driving your kids to school so they are safe from all the people driving their kids to school…

  5. Illegal parking ? isn’t it also illegal to drive down the pavement & drive at speed ? I often see people driving down the pavement just because they can’t be bothered to give way or wait for other drivers to get out of their way,maybe these bad drivers should also be spoken to, again, always during school pick up & drop off time.

  6. How come Claire Young, Libdem District Councillor is in the photo ? She has nothing to do with Bradley Stoke and there is no Libdem Town or County Councillor in Bradley Stoke.

    Couldn’t be anything to do with the Lakeside by-election could it.

    Suggest she goes back to Coalpit Heath or wherever she comes from and keeps her nose out of BS business.

  7. @Richard Phillips, I guess she’s in the photo because she’s chair of the SGC committee that has responsibility for road safety. Can’t be anything to do with the possible upcoming Bradley Stoke by-election as photo was taken on 1st July, well before Cllr Charlotte Walker resigned.

  8. Richard Phillips is obviously more interested in local politics than the safety of young children outside our schools. Thanks to Ed for pointing out his embarrassing error.

    Yes, the Lib Dems will be putting up a candidate at the Lakeside by-election, but shame on the party that called this election and has cost the Council Tax payers of Bradley Stoke yet another £5,000.

    How many by-elections have been called since UKIP and the Conservatives started their vendetta against each other? Must be at least 3 and cost us Tax payers at least £15,000 which could have been used to fund something worthwhile in the town; like Youth Work.

  9. @JonBoy,

    My information is that the upcoming Lakeside parish ward by-election was called by an individual with no political affiliation, who gathered the necessary number of signatures.

    There have been two by-elections since Cllr Ben Walker defected to UKIP in May 2012. Those two are believed to have been called for by UKIP supporters. In both cases, the UKIP candidate finished second to a Conservative. The last by-election cost Bradley Stoke council tax payers £4,882.

  10. Can you please use the car to catch the many many lazy parents that park illegally on the pavement outside Holy Family Catholic School in Amberley Road, Stoke Lodge. I have reported them to police several time but they just ignore the problem, sometimes it is almost impossible to drive down the road at school pick-up times, and you cannot get prams etc down the pavements either!

    I wholeheartedly support this scheme!

  11. A trip down Three Brooks Lane at about 3.15pm should net BSTC a tidy sum due to the appalling parking from lazy parents of kids at Meadowbrook school.

  12. What about cars parking half on pavement and half on the street! Everywhere in Bradley Stoke. I live in Westfield Way and everybody does it, and in all the roads around. So if you have a double buggy or a wheel chair you can be on the pavement!!! That’s disgusting, and everybody should have a penalty. Double Yellow line or not…parking on the pavement..even on the front of your house should be forbidden and punished. Think about pushchairs and wheelchairs! Lack of respect in my opinion!

  13. Local police told a meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group a few years back that they will only consider taking action on pavement parking in cases where it isn’t possible to pass along the pavement with a double buggy.

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