5 days ago
Caerleon charity events hit by council's parking tickets
On Saturday, June 7, Newport Council issued a series of parking tickets to people attending various fundraising events in the town.
On the day, Caerleon had been playing host to a number of charity events and celebrations for numerous causes and organisations.
Jon Shine, of Country Connect, fumed: 'Newport Council - abhorrent behaviour! In the quiet community of Caerleon we have hundreds of visitors celebrating a host of different events and causes.
'We have the Caerleon RFC mini and juniors' rugby club's 'Thank You' event for the coaches and contributors who give their time for free, supporting our children week in week out.
'We have the cricket club playing a game with visitors to our village.
'We have hundreds bike riding to raise money for palliative care at St David's Hospice with the Dalmatian bike ride.'
The food firm boss said the council penalised people for parking responsibly when supporting a host of good causes: 'Newport Council sent out a traffic warden to book those attending these events. Nothing short of a disgrace, Newport Council!'
Newport Council say patrols in towns and villages are a normal part of traffic enforcement duties. Everyone has the opportunity to park safely, they say.
Mr Shine suggested the council should concentrate on core issues such as potholes, electric charging spaces 'which have never been operational for two years', filthy streets and antisocial behaviour. He argued such things were more important than: 'screwing people who are actually giving back to the community the council is meant to represent.'
A spokesman for Newport City Council argued that the parking tickets were part of normal traffic enforcement and the ongoing operation of restrictions that are crucial to the operation of towns and villages.
'Our civil parking enforcement team were not aware of any events taking place in Caerleon beforehand. This area was simply part of their patrol rota which had been scheduled several weeks ago.'
The enforcement action included a dozen tickets given out for a variety of minor offences.
The spokesman added: 'We're always happy to work with event organisers to provide advice and guidance on parking.'
The Council pointed out they have standard parking regulation duties to perform and the ticketing was a necessary part of normal enforcement: "So that everyone has the opportunity to park safely and, if required, in a designated bay, without obstructing other vehicles.
