Southwark council CCTV van rakes in £143K in driving fines

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A CCTV van has earned a town hall more than £143,000 in fines over three years.

Southwark council’s parking enforcement van snapped drivers 2,211 times between 2019 and 2022.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the van issued motorists with 783 £65 penalty charge notices, totalling £50,895, in the most recent 12-month period.

The previous year even more fines were handed to drivers, raking in £54,600 for the council. Between 2020 and 2021, 840 penalty charge notices were issued by the van.

Over the 2019/2020 period, fewer fines were handed out by the CCTV van – a total of 588. Despite this, it still earned the council £38,220.

The Renault Kangoo model van has raked in a total of £143,715 for Southwark council since 2019. The vehicle was purchased by the council to help with enforcing parking rules in the borough.

Southwark Council said motorists could be issued with fines by the van for actions such as parking on yellow lines, parking on the footpath, double parking or obstructing another person’s driveway.

Southwark is not the only London council to use a CCTV van to catch drivers breaking rules. Other local authorities across the capital have purchased mobile cameras in the last few years to enforce parking restrictions.

The hundreds of thousands of pounds Southwark has raked in from the CCTV van is dwarfed by the amount it has earned from low traffic zone cameras.

In March the council revealed motorists who had driven down roads forbidden to cars in Dulwich had been fined over £5 million. The penalty charge notices were handed out over a one-year period between 2021 and 2022.

Southwark council has been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: Southwark council CCTV parking enforcement van (Picture: Robert Firth)