The scale of the Calderdale parking charge fiasco is bigger than first thought.
Parking charges were lifted in Halifax town centre on October 8 after it became clear that some of the Council’s traffic regulation orders (TRO) cannot be legally enforced – and the same applied to streets surrounding Calderdale Royal Hospital.
But now it turns out even more streets on the outskirts of Halifax town centre had the charges wrongly enforced so drivers can apply for refunds for those as well as the others.
Errors were found in the TRO relating at first to 20 streets in the central area of Halifax. As a result parking charges were lifted across the whole of the town centre, although initially drivers were only eligible for a refund if they had paid for parking or been issued with a Penalty Charge Notice in the 20 affected streets.
But Calderdale Council’s Director of Economy and Environment Ian Gray has now said: “There are two TROs covering Halifax town centre. Initially we found errors within the TRO which covers the centre of Halifax. As a result we lifted the parking charges and stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) across the whole of the town centre because we did not want to continue to charge in the outer area until we had checked whether this was also affected.
“Our review of the TRO for the outer areas of Halifax has revealed additional errors which mean that we will accept refund claims from drivers who have received a PCN in these areas.”
Drivers may be eligible for a refund if they have paid to park or received a PCN in any of the pay and display bays in the affected streets or for parking in a restricted area, for example a loading bay or in a disabled bay since January 2014. All claims will be assessed and a refund will be issued if eligible.
Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) will be patrolling the outer areas of Halifax from Monday, November 10 and will be enforcing parking restrictions where these are still in force, for example where there are limited waiting times, yellow lines and some resident permit bays.
Work is continuing on the new, permanent TRO for Halifax town centre. Council surveyors will begin work on site in Skircoat tomorrow.
Maps showing all of the affected streets and the online claim form can be found at www.calderdale.gov.uk .
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