Barnet residents' parking permits soared up to 300 per cent in cost.
Now they have won ruling saying it is illegal for councils to use parking charges to raise money for other transport projects.
Motorists have won a landmark judgement after the High Court ruled it illegal for a cash-strapped council to hike parking charges as a revenue-raising stealth ‘tax’ to subsidise its other services.
Motoring groups said the ruling was ‘fantastic news’ which had major implications for millions of drivers because it would stop local authorities across the country ‘picking on drivers’ to fill their empty coffers by imposing similar illegal parking ‘taxes’.
A High Court judge ruled Barnet council in north London acted unlawfully when it increased the cost of residents' parking permits and visitor vouchers in controlled parking zones (CPZs) to raise revenue.
Objectors complained that the increases had made parking in Barnet's quiet residential streets 'more expensive than parking outside Harrods' and were ‘picking the pockets’ of residents'.
They argued that around 10 per cent of Barnet residents, who lived in CPZs, were heavily subsidising transport services for the whole borough and that the parking hikes were designed by the council to fund expenditure on road maintenance, subsised concessionary fares and other road transport costs.
Mrs Justice Lang agreed, declaring at London's High Court that the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act ‘is not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes’.
The judge ruled that Barnet had misinterpreted the law when it concluded that it was lawful for the council 'to budget for a surplus (of parking charges) at any level which it considered appropriate in order to generate income for other transport purposes which it wished to fund.'
Residents in the borough had originally faced residential parking charges of £20 for a first car and 35p each for visitor vouchers.
Those charges were increased in 2006 to £40 and £1. But in 2011 they soared to £100 and £4 - among the highest controlled parking zone charges in London.
The ruling is believed by experts to be the first successful legal challenge against the level of parking charges set by a local authority. It could see thousands of Barnet residents reclaim millions of pounds in unlawfully collected charges.
More significantly it could lead to many more legal challenges and prevent similar actions.
Professor Stephen Glaister is director of the RAC Foundation which had given evidence backing the residents. He said: ‘Our position has now been vindicated.
‘This is fantastic news for drivers. The law is explicit - parking charges are about managing congestion, not raising revenue.
'If there is a surplus collected then there are strict rules on what it can be used for. Why did Barnet ever think it had an arguable case to pick on one group of residents to shoulder an additional tax?’
Professor Glaister said he had some sympathy with cash-strapped councils, but added: ’But we have no sympathy for attempts to make up the shortfall by arbitrarily picking on drivers. That view has now been backed by the courts.
‘Councils thinking of turning to motorists to balance the books would do well to read the judgement and put their heads back below the parapet. This ruling will be felt by hundreds of local authorities and benefit millions of drivers.’
The ruling was achieved by the Barnet CPZ Action group, made up of residents from the borough, including solicitor David Attfield, who brought the lead case.
Mr Attfield, from East Finchley, won the quashing of the council's decision in February 2011 to dramatically increase the charges with effect from April 2011.
The judge rejected arguments put forward by council lawyers that it had powers under section 45 of the 1984 Act to raise a surplus from parking charges for transport functions.
There were no parking charges in Mr Attfield's quiet residential road until the Controlled-Parking Zone CPZ was first introduced in 2001 to prevent tube commuters parking in local streets.
The judge ordered the council to repay the parking charges unlawfully obtained from Mr Attfield, plus his legal costs, opening the way for other residents to seek their money back.
The judge formally rejected Barnet's application to appeal against her ruling, but the council can still ask the Court of Appeal to hear the case. Mrs Justice Lang said her orders against Barnet would be stayed until the appeal court makes a decision.
Source: Daily Mail
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