§ Mr. SheermanTo as the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidelines his Department gives to police forces regarding fixed penalty charges; [20005]
(2) what plans he has to introduce a standardised national charging system for fixed penalty charges; [20007]
(3) what representations he has received regarding fixed penalty charges imposed by police forces in the last two years. [20006]
§ Mr. MacleanThe national levels of fixed penalties for road traffic offences are set by my right hon. and learned Friend under section 53 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. Chief officers of police have been advised that the national rates in England and Wales are £40 for offences involving obligatory endorsement and £20 for non-endorsable offences including illegal parking, with the exception of illegal parking in London. For London, which is defined as the Metropolitan police district and the City of London, the following differential rates were set in view of the particular problems of congestion
£40 for illegal parking on a red route;£30 for illegal parking elsewhere in LondonNo representations have been received regarding the current levels of fixed penalty, which came into force on 1 April 1992.