27 Parking charge notices issued outside schools in Newport

Complaints that traffic enforcement officers are “standing around doing nothing” while on duty near schools provoked a council officer to defend his colleagues.

A meeting in Newport heard that councillors receive complaints from members of the public – including photos – alleging that no action is being taken by neighbourhood enforcement officers.

A report to Newport Town Council’s Community Safety Committee on Wednesday (April 23) showed that two parking charge notices were handed out during patrols at six schools last month (March 2025).

Both fines were handed out at patrols in Avenue Road, near Newport Junior School.

The committee heard from a council officer who said that things were not as the public might see them.

He said in certain circumstances: “We will issue a ticket but you won’t see us issue a ticket.”

He said in offences like parking on a keep clear zone, or in a bus stop, the “fines are instant”. And there are five-minute observation periods for parking on single and double yellow lines.

The meeting was told that: “If you drop your child off in a keep clear zone the neighbourhood enforcement officer will see that” and the driver will ‘not get a visible ticket.’

The officer said this avoided potential altercations in the street and meant that they did not have to stand in front of a vehicle that may move off.

“People will assume we haven’t done anything but actually that driver will receive that fine in the post,” councillors were told.

Figures published for the meeting revealed that in the last 12 months 27 parking charge notices were issued outside schools in Newport. Officers had also made scores of observations of rule-flouting drivers.

The officer said that they will have “multiple officers at certain schools simply due to the size of the school and how far and wide the traffic regulation order expands.”

He explained that in the “early days” of traffic enforcement the service was “rightly criticized” for only having one officer on duty. They would not be able to deal with all the incidents.

“We can have two, three, or four officers at some schools,” he told the committee.

They also think it is useful to have officers who can “positively engage” with members of the public to “remind them where they should be parking”.

This approach, he said meant that an officer would not be distracted by members of the public while they filled in vital details on their hand-held devices.

“It’s not the fact that they are together and are not doing anything,” the officer said.

“Each one has got a different responsibility, because what we don’t want to be doing is going in with one officer who becomes distracted and then issuing spoiled tickets.

“We want to offer a high quality service.”

He added that they respond to intelligence provided when deciding where to go.

“In North Road, Wellington, where there are two schools, you could have the entire team there to be honest,” he said.

Councillor Tim Nelson, who is a dual town and borough councillor, said he and the council believed they are getting a good service.

But he added: “We get challenged by the public in writing with photos saying the officers are standing round doing nothing.”

He added that “that challenge might be unmerited” and he asked for any statistics that they could use to have a response to the “doing nothing” claim.

The officer agreed to “go away and look to see” how the data could reflect that.

Story by David Tooley – Local Democracy Reporter
Pic: Google Maps