Readers of last week’s Bury Times may have been puzzled to read a letter from Mr Arthur Withington commenting on a Bury Times report about the level of mistakes allegedly made by traffic wardens in Bury, while in the same edition there was a correction and apology about that story.
There have indeed been a number of errors and a great deal of confusion about this issue, much of it I fear caused by the Bury Times’ confused approach to this subject.
I would like to take this opportunity to finally clear up any misunderstandings.
Bury Civil Enforcement Officers (the correct name for traffic wardens) are employed by NSL on behalf of Bury Council.
NSL used to be part of National Car Parks (NCP) but split from them two and a half years ago.
A report in the Bury Times two weeks ago wrongly suggested that our CEOs in Bury made mistakes with more than 25 per cent of the tickets they issue — resulting in a high number of cancellations.
In fact, our error rate is less than 0.75 per cent — the cancellations being made at Bury Council’s discretion on legitimately issued tickets because of mitigating circumstances. This demonstrates an exceptionally customer friendly approach on Bury Council’s part.
The Bury Times’ mistake was corrected on page two last week. However, on page 14, Mr Withington, commenting on the original and misleading article, mistakenly suggested that Bury traffic wardens benefit from a bonus scheme based on the number of tickets we issue.
This is not true. NSL has never operated such schemes.
They have, furthermore, been made illegal by Statutory Guidance issued as part of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (it is paragraph 110 of the Guidance, which is available online, should anyone wish to read it).
Mr Withington’s suggestion, therefore, that there is pressure on our staff to issue tickets, and that as a result tickets are issued which cannot be justified is also false.
I hope this letter clears this point up once and for all.
Tim Cowen Director of Communications NSL Ltd
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