Good afternoon - today the Liverpool ECHO has published the results of a 16-month investigation which has exposed a "back door" route used by Liverpool councillors to have parking tickets cancelled.
Our investigation used Freedom of Information laws to compile a list of elected members of the council who had been issued parking fines between 2015 and 2020 and had them rescinded by council officers without using formal process.
The list of names revealed today includes one councillor - former Deputy Mayor Ann O'Byrne - who had a total of 17 parking tickets rescinded in that time period, while former cabinet members Barry Kushner and Nick Small saw seven and four tickets thrown out respectively. Ex-Lord Mayor Malcolm Kennedy also had four tickets rescinded.
READ MORE: 14 city politicians named in parking probe and their explanations
Former Mayor Joe Anderson had two parking tickets cancelled by officers in that same period while long-serving Labour Councillor Gerard Woodhouse had five tickets rescinded. All have denied wrongdoing.
All those named in our investigation today have provided full responses and explanations for why they say they had their parking tickets rescinded and we are reporting these in full here. A number said they were acting in good faith based on advice and guidance from senior officers and believe they have done nothing wrong.
In Liverpool, if you receive a parking fine you are charged either £70 or £50 depending on your offence and must pay the fine within 28 days of the Penalty Charge Notice being issued. However, if you pay within 14 days it will be reduced by 50% to £35 or £25 respectively. If you want to challenge your fine, you must make this challenge in writing to the council within 28 days of receiving the fine.
If this process is done correctly, the council should hold records of whether a ticket has been overturned or upheld, but in its response to the ECHO Liverpool City Council said that "despite conducting extensive searches of its records, the council has not been able to locate any formal council records detailing why parking services cancelled the 51 PCNs referred to above."
The ECHO began investigating claims of an alleged "back door route" for councillors to get out of paying parking tickets in October 2021. Following a complaint made by the city's opposition leader Cllr Richard Kemp, we submitted Freedom of Information requests asking for all the names of any elected members who had seen tickets rescinded between April 1 2015 and December 31 2020, the dates and locations involved and any reasons given for why the fines were thrown out.
It has been a long and frustrating 16-month process to finally get these details released, with legal issues delaying the process. While the council has today answered the majority of our questions, they have been unable to provide some answers but have vowed to continue their investigations and provide a "comprehensive" response as soon as possible.
"Unacceptable culture"
Responding to our investigation, the Labour Party said there was a "custom and practice" in the city council at the time where parking tickets issued against councillors in the course of their duties could be rescinded and that councillors operated on that basis in "good faith." The party said the situation we have uncovered "reflects a period in the council when its corporate behaviours were not what they should have been."
Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said: “The Cabinet and I have been working hard since my election as Mayor in May 2021 to change the culture of the council to one that is fully focused on delivering best value for its residents.
“We cannot change what happened in the past but it is vital that we learn from it and make sure we are as transparent as possible when it comes to decision-making, with the correct governance and audit procedures in place.
“I welcome the Internal Audit that is being carried out in relation to Parking Services, which will now pick up issues arising from this disclosure. The outcome will go to the Audit Committee for full transparency to see if we can further improve our systems and processes.”
Theresa Grant, Interim Chief Executive said: “We have released historic information about parking penalty charge notices issued to elected members that were cancelled between 2015 and 2020.
“It highlights previous poor practice, relating to past processes and scrutiny of the way the council used to be run. It is, sadly, an example of the unacceptable culture that pervaded parts of the council in the past, as documented in the Best Value inspection report.
“I want to be clear that what happened historically is no reflection of the council’s current Parking Services staff nor management team. It is important to remember that much has changed at Liverpool City Council and we are now a more mature organisation, one that is open and transparent about decision-making.
“As part of transforming the council, so it is fit for purpose and well-run, we have made many changes to our culture, our management, our governance, and our systems and processes. We are determined to give our residents complete confidence that our services offer best value and operate with the highest standards of integrity, transparency and professionalism.
“The council’s Internal Audit team are carrying out an objective assessment of Parking Services’ systems – to give all of us – residents included – complete confidence in how the service is currently run.”
Mike Cunningham, Lead government Commissioner at the council said: “The information released today shines a light on the poor practices that have been all too common in Liverpool City Council. However, it is information that the public have a right to know and, although it has taken too long for this information to be shared, we welcome the transparent approach the council is now taking to publishing it. It demonstrates the positive steps being taken to improve the Council’s handling of freedom of information requests.
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