By Daniel Clark, Local Democracy Reporter
A second CCTV car has been put into action by a local authority to improve road safety around schools.
The £45,000 car launched today (Tuesday May 22) and is Nottinghamshire County Council’s latest deterrent to prevent dangerous and inconsiderate parking outside schools.
Councillors agreed to the new car following the high demand for the current vehicle which has been enforcing ‘keep clear’ markings outside schools since March 2016.
Those caught parking dangerously can be issued with a penalty charge notice; a PCN issued is £70 which is reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days.
Chairman of communities and place committee Conservative Councillor John Cottee said: “This will help to address this genuine problems of dangerous or inconsiderate parking in many areas around school drop off and pick up times.
“We are keen to be able to meet the high demand we have had from schools, parents and others in local communities who have got in touch requesting this car to visit their area to help address these issues.
“This new vehicle is essential for this as we have more than 330 schools spread across the county.
“Today we are also releasing as series of video clips showing examples of the sort of dangerous and inconsiderate parking captured by the current CCTV vehicle in the last few weeks.”
Video: Notts County Council released CCTV footage captured from the first car
School children at Hucknall’s Holgate Primary School got a preview of the new car on Monday (May 21).
The pupils aged between eight and 10-years-old act as road safety ambassadors for the school and regularly hand out thank-you cards to motorists who park considerately.
Head of Holgate Primary School Emma Severn said: “The school of course welcomes any extra resource that helps to improve road safety for our school and local community.
“Unfortunately, inconsiderate or dangerous parking near our school is a real challenge for us.
“We do all we can to make parking easier for parents as each day three or four staff currently take it in turns to help direct people on the correct use of our ‘drop off’ zone.
“Pupils who act as the school’s road safety ambassadors certainly learned more about how the new CCTV vehicle works – and I’m sure they will spread the word among their classmates.”
Figures show around 1,500 penalty charge notices (PCNs) have been issued to motorists since March 2016 with two-thirds of these for dangerously and inconsiderately on ‘keep clear’ markings outside schools and a third (500) on bus stops.
Councillor Cottee said: “I must make clear our purpose in using a car-based enforcement system is not to raise revenue; in fact the existing CCTV car runs at a slight financial deficit for the council.
“Our aim is to improve safety and stop dangerous and inconsiderate parking near schools and bus stops, which we know causes a great deal of concern.”
The council say all money generated by the PCNs go directly towards paying for the car and ongoing running costs of the equipment, driver and software support.
