Ealing Council's Parking Permit System 'Dysfunctional'
Complaints grow about difficulties in getting renewals
Residents fear PCNs if they are unable to renew permits
There have been a growing number of cases of Ealing Borough residents having issues with renewing their parking permits.
Numerous attempts to make the renewal have been unsuccessful and online help has not been available with the council not responding to emails and even letter about the issues.
A number of people have walked to the council offices to try and get assistance including a resident in their mid-eighties but met with no success. One man who travelled from Chiswick to see if his issues could be sorted out in person was told by security staff that none of the employees in the relevant department were on site as they were all working from home.
Another said, “This dysfunctional system is causing a huge amount of stress and expense. We now have to pay for a car that we rarely use to park outside our own house on a daily basis. Previous experience with the council has taught me that even if they acknowledge and fines levied were invalid it will be a battle to get the money back so we are not taking the chance. I’ve noticed more yellow stickers on car in the area so the council appear to be making hay. We have huge challenges ahead as a family and this is an extra drain on our increasingly limited finances.”
The online system is operating on Ealing Council’s behalf by Taranto which is a unit of Canadian company Trapeze Software. It provides the processes for a number of other councils in the UK including Wandsworth.
Local resident Justine Sullivan has raised the case of an elderly women unable to renew her permit who has lived in the Draytons for over thirty five years with her local councillors and MP James Murray. She says that it is surprising no action is taking place with an election in the near future.
The system does seem to be working for some as one of our colleagues recently needed to renew and had no problems.
A spokesperson for Ealing Council said, "There doesn’t appear to be any major issues with permit renewals so if we are able to get specifics, we can investigate."
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March 7, 2022