More than £5 million of 'unfair' fines will not be paid back by Kingston Council

More than £5 million of fines will not be paid back despite the council admitting they were unfair – and despite campaigners asking councillors to look at the budget again.

Traffic restrictions were set up in Surbiton Crescent, Kingston, as part of the council’s £30 million cycle highway scheme Go Cycle, funded by the Mayor of London, temporarily in November 2016 and permanently from June 2017.

The signage is widely believed to have been inadequate, and leader of the council Cllr Liz Green, who was in opposition until May 2018, is on record as saying the signs were both unclear and unfair, and has previously asked for first-time offenders to be repaid.

Helen Hinton, who presented a petition last year to try to stop the scheme being made permanent, led a deputation at a council meeting to discuss the new administration’s “emergency budget” on July 17, asking for some of the money to be paid back.

A section of the Lib Dem administration’s “emergency budget” document, approved at the meeting, was dedicated to Surbiton Crescent. In it, they claimed they cannot afford to pay the money back, blaming the recently ousted Conservatives for the state of the council’s finances.

At the meeting, Ms Hinton spoke for five minutes and there was an opportunity for councillors to ask questions and debate the fines. Just one question was asked of Ms Hinton: whether she knew how much money the council would be required to pay. And, on advice from an officer, councillors decided not to debate the matter because they did not legally have to.

Comments

The signage was wholly inadequate and the council have effectively defrauded motorists in the area, and the fact that have already refunded one victim already demonstrates their tacit acknowledgement and acceptance of this. Now you need to refunded the rest of us. With interest.

Have they restore the Crescent to traffic then or will the master plan to ruin all shopping and business in Kingston continue with motorists unable to park or paying usurious rates.
All major new developments must be built with underground or roof top floors and all cycle lanes removed so that the free flow of goods and services can resume,the car is here to stay folks,be carbon fuelled or electric people will not give them up.

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