ALMOST a quarter of parking tickets issued in York were cancelled or written off, The Press can reveal today.

Since October, 2000, only 72 per cent of penalty charge notices issued have been paid.

Drivers have appealed against a third of tickets issued in the first four months of this year.

Parking campaigner Paul Abbott blamed "overzealous traffic control" for the number of ticket cancellations and appeals.

City of York Council said the number of cancellations reflected its "reasonable" attitude when tickets were not displayed properly.

Written out ... and then written off

THOUSANDS of parking tickets issued in York end up being cancelled or

written off.

Statistics obtained by The Press show since October, 2000, only 72 per cent of penalty charge notices issued in the city have been paid.

In the first four months of 2006 alone, motorists have appealed against almost a third of all tickets.

From January to April, traffic wardens for City of York Council issued 8,945 penalty notices, with 2,659 objections being received.

The council today said only a very small minority of penalty notices were issued incorrectly, with most of those that went unpaid being due to motorists

providing a valid permit or car park ticket, which was not displayed when the penalty was issued.

But a leading backer of The Press Stop The Highway Robbery campaign said he was not surprised by the number of objections and cancellations, blaming "overzealous traffic control" in the city.

A council spokeswoman said about 150,000 tickets have been issued since October, 2000. Of those, 72 per cent have been paid, 22 per cent cancelled, and six per cent written off.

Last year, The Press reported parking tickets brought nearly £750,000 into council coffers in 2004/2005. In 2004/2005 the authority issued 28,734 tickets. But the council spokeswoman denied the high number of cancellations this year meant wardens were

issuing tickets incorrectly.

She said many

cancellations are because motorists do not always display their valid permits, disabled badges, pay and display tickets or season tickets. She said motorists can have one such offence waived within a 12-month period.

She said: "22 per cent are cancelled, but you have to take into account that we are reasonable about things, for example blue-badge holders not displaying a badge.

"Of the cancellations, only four per cent can be put down to the

attendants having

incorrectly issued a ticket."

But Paul Abbott, a backer of The Press campaign, said: "I do think traffic wardens are overzealous. People come to York and are in holiday mood. Everybody perceives York as a genteel town. It's not.

"It's a case of any excuse for making money out of motorists. To get here is horrendous, then they get here and the parking is astronomical."

On the figures, he said: "I am not surprised at all. It's totally unfair."

Kevin Delaney, of the RAC Foundation, said: "If this means that City of York Council is responding to challenges and these are tickets which are being reviewed, then that's a good thing."

Reasons for penalty charge notices being cancelled:

18.5 per cent - Pay and display ticket holders, or season ticket holders having, but not displaying, a valid ticket

16 per cent - Resident permit holders having, but not displaying, a valid permit

15 per cent - DVLA details being out of date, so the council can not identify the owner

Nine per cent - Dummy tickets which were 'issued' on dummy vehicles, for staff training purposes

Seven per cent - Foreign vehicles or drivers who cannot be traced by the council

Seven per cent - Disabled badge holders having, but not displaying, a valid badge

Four per cent - Parking attendant error.

Other reasons include: car

having been stolen; owner unable to return due to illness or injury; vehicle

broken down when notice was issued; vehicle having been loading or unloading.

Updated: 09:27 Saturday, May 13, 2006