Hemma Visavadia
Guest Reporter
Thousands of drivers who were incorrectly slapped with traffic offences are set to receive refunds after a major blunder by a local authority was identified.
In October, Reading Borough Council apologised after discovering a flaw in its traffic system which saw 6,136 penalties wrongfully issued to drivers along red routes over an 11-year period.
The council has now started correcting the errors, with a consultation launched to fix nine Traffic Regulation Orders across the borough over the coming weeks.
In total, the council could be forced to return over £357,000 to drivers who were issued penalties between October 2013 and 2024.
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Red Routes operate with double red lines to prevent vehicles from stopping at any point, with drivers being issued fines when captured by cameras.
Out of the nine red route areas, five were deemed to be wrong with drivers subsequently issued fines for traffic violations worth £160 or £80 if paid early.
The affected areas included the Red Route East which encompasses Kings Road from Watlington Street to Cemetery Junction, Wokingham Road, Queens Road and London Road.
Other areas included Waldeck Street Resident Permit Parking, Swainstone Road Resident Permit Parking scheme and the Red Route West operating between Tilehurst and West Reading.
Meanwhile, the Southcote Verge and Footway Parking ban area were also key areas where fines were issued. Other areas included between Tilehurst and Kentwood Verge and Footway Parking ban area.
Jackie Yates, chief executive of the council, said the borough sincerely apologises to all motorists and residents who were affected by the errors and urges them to visit the council's website for reimbursement.
Yates added: “Parking enforcement action was suspended as soon as the Council became aware of the specific TRO issues and further action is being taken to ensure that the circumstances which led to this situation don't happen again.”
In response to the error, many drivers have been left furious with one person sharing on social media that there needs to be “much tougher managerial control” over the operatives who issue these fines.
The person claimed: “The council's lead member for transport should visit the offices from which they are issued and audit the process randomly, and crash down hard on supervisors who are allowing fines to be issued incorrectly. Human beings are fallible, so mistakes will occur from time to time, but this story smacks of inadequate management.”
Another person accused the council of being “scammers” and should have never let the issue occur in the first place.
They said: “Scammers!! RBC know who they have mugged off and you should be giving automatic refunds!!! Apologies are just a cop out so do what’s right!!”
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Someone else furied: "How do you expect people to know the date and contravention code of a parking ticket from 2013?! You presumably have record of the affected tickets, so it is on you to proactively find these drivers and refund them, not post on Facebook and think 'job done'."
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