BBC London reports that a number of London councils have been criticised for planning to impose standard parking fines on Boxing Day.
Councils waive parking restrictions on public holidays but as 26 December falls on a Saturday this year some do not recognise it as a public holiday.
One of those councils, Westminster City Council, said it will offer free parking on Monday 28 December instead.
But campaigner Paul Pearson said thousands of motorists “will have Christmas tarnished by a £120 ticket”.
Of all 32 London councils, 17 confirmed to BBC London that they would impose parking restrictions on 26 December.
These included Westminster City Council in central London, Kensington and Chelsea in west London and Kingston Council in south-west London.
Councils offering free parking on Boxing Day include Lewisham Council in south London, Islington Council in north London and Hillingdon Council in west London.
Mr Pearson, of campaign group Penalty Charge Notice, said the lack of consistency will confuse people visiting and shopping in the city on 26 December.
“Boxing Day is a public holiday – it shouldn’t not be a public holiday because it happens to be a Saturday,” he said.
“Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea libraries and leisure centres are all closed on Saturday 26 December because it’s a public holiday but they are going to be ticketing motorists and charging for parking because they say it is not a public holiday.”
Only 14 councils said they would not impose parking restrictions on 26 December. BBC London is still waiting to hear back from Greenwich council.
You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.
Simply text the word Parking plus the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the one closest to it on the same line.
bbc.co.uk/news
Boxing Day parking in Camden
Boxing day is a public holiday regardless of which day of the week it falls on and therefore parking should be free. I disagree with Kevin Goad, Westminster’s head of parking, who said ‘enforcing charges was necessary for the safety of motorists and pedestrians and to keep traffic moving’. Firstly there is not the same volume of traffic as normal saturdays, secondly, the traffic will move better if there were not so many obstructions caused by indiscriminate barriers/diversions allegedly for construction or roadworks and third but not least, how can he expect people not to use cars when public transport is not available on Boxing day? If he allows shops to open, then surely he would rather people came out to make it worthwhile for the vendors.
Parking wardens in central London are unreasonable and cause infinite misery to many honest taxpayers- it is time to abandon this form of ‘traffic control’ which is only useful as a very lucrative business for the parking control companies.