User Perspectives on the National Parking Adjudication Service
During 2004, Professor John W Raine and Eileen Dunstan from the School of Public Policy at the University of Birmingham conducted research on behalf of the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS).
NPAS is the tribunal of independent adjudicators who hear appeals against local authority parking enforcement decisions in England and Wales outside London. The aim of the research was to help NPAS learn from its users about perceptions and experiences of the organisation and of the administrative arrangements for parking appeals.
The research focused on three main groups of users – appellants (those who bring their cases to the independent adjudicators having had their representations against enforcement decisions rejected by the local authorities), local authorities (as respondents to such appeals); and other motorists (who might be regarded as potential users of independent adjudication).
The research was conducted in 15 English local authority areas, chosen to provide a broadly representative cross-section in terms of size of population, numbers of parking tickets issued, length of experience of decriminalised parking enforcement and geographical spread, and took the form of telephone interviews to appellants and non-appellants and interviews with local authority staff.
The three main conclusions from the research were that
- NPAS should take steps to widen public awareness about independent adjudication on local authority parking enforcement decisions.
- Some recommendations involved designing a new appeal form that is more user-friendly, designing a new public information leaflet and more initiatives with local authorities to highlight the role of independent adjudication.
- NPAS should take steps to improve understanding among all appellants on the independent judicial status of parking adjudication in order to build confidence and trust in the process.
- For example, NPAS could pilot an initiative to develop more personalised approaches to the postal appeal process.
- NPAS should take steps to ensure that local authorities develop better understanding of its status as a tribunal.
- Recommendations also included encouraging local authorities to send representatives to appeal hearing sessions and preparing guidelines and manuals for local authorities setting out expectations such as evidence submission and local authority role at personal appeals.
A copy of this report can be obtained from NPAS.
In June 2005, Professor Raine, Eileen Dunstan and Theresa Alexandra Parry completed another research project investigating the nature of quality in parking enforcement as undertaken by local authorities. The research was conducted against a background of growing public discontent with the new regimes of parking enforcement under local authority control and the report offers both a measurement framework through which councils can assess their own performance and an analysis of where and how standards in parking enforcement might be raised.
The conclusion of most interest to the Council is the emphasis placed on ensuring high quality decision-making in response to representations. To guarantee the quality in decision-making, the report suggests supervision and oversight by those qualified in practice of law, and also recommends legal supervision of explanatory letters in response to representations, to avoid errors and inappropriate phraseology.
The report also recommends the importance of councils learning from appeals to improve the quality of decision-making, by their providing a representative at the hearings to listen first-hand to what is said between the adjudicator and appellant. Reflection on all appeal decisions might ensure that lessons are learnt and actions taken to minimise the likelihood of recurrence.
A copy of this report can be obtained from the Publications Officer, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham.
(October 2005)