Latest news with #FreedomofInformationRequest
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
One-woman campaign forces Labour council to repay a year's parking fines
A Labour council is to pay back a year's worth of parking fines after a woman launched a crusade against a 'misleading' sign. Manchester city council will also remove the sign that the social media campaigner, who uses the name Zoe Bread online, revealed was pointing drivers to the wrong meter, resulting in thousands of pounds in fines. Over a five-week campaign, the T-shirt maker and activist staked out the street on which she was fined, interviewed a traffic warden, and questioned Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, on a radio show. Now the local authority says it will refund a year's worth of fines. The campaign against the sign began in early April, when Zoe was given a £50 penalty for paying at the wrong machine in Collier Street, in Manchester city centre. Now, Bev Craig, the council leader, has told the campaigner she accepts the sign 'should be better', that it will be changed 'as soon as possible', and fines will be refunded. Zoe told her 1.3 million TikTok followers the sign directs drivers to a nearby pay and display machine for a private car park and she had 'parked for six minutes with the wrong ticket because of the arrow direction'. On April 8, in the first of a series of videos, she published a recording of one council official telling her motorists were often fined after parking on Collier Street but mistakenly paying for the private car park nearby. Then a security guard from a neighbouring car park told Zoe around 10 people a month are caught out by the sign. On April 11, she revealed the results of her Freedom of Information Request for how many fines were awarded on Collier Street before and after the private car park was created. In 2018, just 93 people were awarded a penalty, compared with 288 in 2023. Zoe then filmed herself speaking to a parking warden, who told her he agreed that the parking sign was misleading. 'We tell the council but it's up to the council to do it,' he said. The council insisted many people managed to buy the correct parking tickets for Collier Street. But after Zoe called into a local radio station to question Mr Burnham over the issue, Cllr Craig contacted her to resolve the issue. The council leader said on Saturday: 'Our signage at Collier Street is legally compliant but we agree it could be much clearer. We're going to address this as soon as possible with new signs, by relocating the meter, and by asking the owners of the nearby private car park to take down their signs which have contributed to confusion. 'As a goodwill gesture, we will also quash any pending or unpaid tickets relating to Collier Street – including Zoe's – and review our records of fines for the last 12 months in that location. We will refund anyone who said at the time that they believed they had paid for their parking.' Alan Good, a Liberal Democrat councillor who backed Zoe's campaign, said on Saturday: 'It should not have taken Zoe's hard work in raising the issue, formal complaints to the council from myself, in addition to social media pressure, for common sense to prevail.' Reflecting on her victory, Zoe told her followers: 'If I've learnt anything from this situation it's that the only way to get anything done is to be a completely annoying little pain in the ass. Oh, and that I was born to be a completely annoying little pain in the ass.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Courier
02-05-2025
- The Courier
Dundee council to spend £236k on Balmuir Wood Travellers' site upgrade
Dundee City Council is set to spend almost £250,000 upgrading the city's only official Travellers' site at Balmuir Wood. Balmuir Wood sits beside the Murroes/Tealing junction on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway. Although Angus Council owns the land, there is an agreement in place for Dundee City Council to run the facility. In January, The Courier reported how a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) revealed the site had been lying virtually empty for all but six months since 2019. The FOI also showed that Dundee City Council's repair and maintenance bill for Balmuir Wood in that five year period was £335,659. Now, councillors have approved a tender for further works to be carried out at the site. According to a council paper, the latest works comprise of full upgrading works to the amenity blocks. This will include replacement windows and external doors, kitchen and utility upgrade works, replacement shower-room fit-out, general electrical upgrade and redecoration throughout. The repairs are scheduled to run from April until June. The total value of the work is listed at £236,656 – which will be funded from the local authority's 2025-2030 capital plan. Information obtained by The Courier through a FOI showed that as of January, Balmuir Wood Travellers' site had been unoccupied for 17 months of the past 72. And just one pitch was in use for 44 months – 60% – of that period. The highest occupancy came during the winter period of 2021/22 when eight caravans pitched up between November and March. The Courier has previously reported on the rise in illicit Traveller camps in Dundee in recent years. Since the beginning of 2022, a total of 22 Traveller encampments have been reported to Dundee City Council. Of these, only one was reported in 2022, while six were reported in 2023 and 15 in 2024.
