100s OF VACANCIES
INSIDE TODAY’S [P]
Reporting local life since 1854
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
40p
TRIAL DELAY: Ryan Shotton.
New trial date set for star on assault charge
RYAN’S ROYAL APPROVAL
SEE PAGE 6
Car park ticket machines break down on average once a month
PAY-AND-DISPLAY PARKING FIASCO BY ALEX CAMPBELL
alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
PARKING pay-and-display machines across Stoke-on-Trent are breaking down more than 1,600 times a year – despite a £45,000 bill from a private firm to maintain them. Engineers contracted by Stoke-onTrent City Council are being called out 140 times every month to fix broken parking payment machines. There are only 143 machines in the city – meaning each one is breaking down almost once a month on average. The Sentinel has learned the authority spends £45,250 a year on a maintenance contract with a private company. The deal is now being ‘reviewed’ to find savings. It comes as the council has banked just £1.1 million from parking charges
LOSING CASH: Parking in Hanley. and fines between April and September – compared with the target of almost £1.5 million. Most of the machines are breaking down because of jammed tickets or coins. Complaints are also being made about machines failing to issue tickets or refusing coins. Councillor Ruth Rosenau, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “Since the beginning of
this financial year we have had to close a number of car parks as part of the city centre redevelopment – Crown, Castle and Warner Street have all closed – and on-street pay-and-display has been removed from Bethesda Street and is currently being removed from Percy Street. “Inevitably having fewer machines affects the income generated and there is also the recession to take into account.” Opposition leader and independent councillor Dave Conway is calling on the council to scrap the maintenance contract and switch the machines off. He is proposing an alternative system where residents sign up for a £40-a-year windscreen disc providing unlimited parking, with pay and display tickets sold in nearby shops and newsagents. He said: “There are council-run car parks, including at least three in Tun-
stall, which have only one machine. If it’s broken you are just losing money because motorists can’t pay. “This is a real mess. And it would cost too much to replace all of the machines.” Motorist Steven Miller, a call centre worker, of Silverdale, was last weekend fined for using Castle Street car park, in Hanley, which has been decommissioned but was left open. He said: “The council says it is losing money on car parking, but there’s a big car park right opposite the market on a Sunday which is not being used. “If the council has an expensive contract and the machines keep on breaking then the authority should do something about it.”
Should the council reduce parking charges? Email us at letters@ thesentinel.co.uk
THE trial of Stoke City star Ryan Shotton has been delayed. The 23-year-old footballer is accused of assaulting Mark McDonald outside Pink nightclub in Hanley. He denies committing assault by beating on June 24, and was due to go on trial yesterday. But the hearing was delayed until December because three witnesses were not at court. North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court also heard that the Crown Prosecution Service had failed to provide Shotton’s solicitor with required evidence within an agreed timeframe. At a short hearing yesterday, attended by Shotton, Deputy District Judge David Jackson adjourned the case for trial on December 17.
WIN A FAMILY SEE PAGE 18 Terms & conditions apply
SEN-eO1-S2 [P]