Parking fines set to jump from $50 to $75 next month

FRIDAY, JAN. 27: Parking fines are set to jump by nearly 50 per cent next month.

The fines hike to push the cost of illegal parking up from $50 to $75 is expected to be implemented within the next few weeks, according to enforcement sources.

One source said: “We haven’t been told exactly when the cost of tickets will go up, but I think it will be next month.”

The new law also means that — if offenders don’t pay the fine within 14 days — the cost will go up to $100.

If offenders still don’t pay, Magistrates’ Court can impose a $150 fine on conviction.

Unable to renew

In addition, the new laws allow the Transport Control Department (TCD) to refuse to renew vehicle licences for drivers with unpaid fines on theirrecord.

The Government predicted a $1.5 million income from parking tickets in the Budget Blue Book for the 2011-12 financial year.

That was a big increase on the $750,000 prediction for the previous year — although the Traffic Offences Procedure Amendment Act 2010 which allowed for increases in the fines, which became law in the summer of that year, has still not been put into effect.

City of Hamilton chief operating officer Ed Benevides and Mayor Charles Gosling said that, while the city lays out restricted parking zones for Hamilton, fines are set by Government.

They added that enforcement duties are carried out by Traffic Wardens — who work under the supervision of the Bermuda Police Service — and police officers.

A police spokesman said police were only responsible for enforcing the law, not for setting the level of the fine.

Based on the near-38,000 parking tickets issued in 2010, Government could have expected around $1.9 million in revenue if everyone paid up.

But, if the number of tickets issued remained the same for 2011 and the new law had been implemented immediately, a total of $2.85 million could have been expected to go into the public purse.

No one from the Ministry of Transport was prepared to comment on when the fines rise would be introduced, or why it had taken so long to come into force.

Shadow Transport Minister Patricia Pamplin Gordon said: “I don’t know the reason behind the failure to implement the new rates, but it’s indicative of how the Government is doing things.”

She added that the law to ban the use of cellphones and other handheld electronic equipment was passed nearly three years ago, but the legislation allowing for penalties to be imposed was not passed until last December.