DRIVERS have reacted with road rage to Croydon Council increasing parking fines on almost all roads in the borough.
The changes will mean parking offences in other parts of the borough are treated the same as they are in busy central Croydon.
All but 13 of the borough's roads have been reclassified from Band B to A, which means paying more if you are fined for a parking infringement.
There is a £20 rise for both minor and serious parking contraventions from the previous level.
If a minor offence is committed in Band B roads, the fine is £60, but £80 for Band A roads.
All fines are halved if paid within 14 days of the ticket being issued.
A council spokesman said the changes were to elicit more compliance from drivers, saying: "The differential charging structure implemented by London councils was expected to reduce the number of vehicles parked in contravention for more serious offences. It was hoped that this would lead to an overall reduction in penalty charge notices across the borough. "This proved to be the case for the majority of London boroughs but did not prove to be the case for Croydon, showing that the effect of the differential parking charging structure had diminished." The 13 roads that remain in Band B, many of which are in Upper Norwood, are jointly owned with another council. Brian Watson, chairman of the Foxley Residents' Association and resident of Densham Drive, Purley, believes the council is treating motorists shoddily. He said: "If they are saying Croydon motorists are worse than the other London boroughs then I'd say right back at them that they are leading the way in how to be a bad council. They run roughshod over everybody and they are completely odious. "Whenever the council needs some money they seem to raise the parking fines up and target motorists. "If someone is stopping at the shops for something that might take a couple of minutes, they should be allowed to do that because it will harm the future of local businesses as well. "Eric Pickles has basically come out and said this is exactly what councils should not be doing." And Alan Wright, owner of Express Copy in Coulsdon, also believes businesses in less busy district centres will be harmed by the imposition of heftier fines. He said: "A lot of people who do their shopping here are elderly and once they've parked up and shuffled around a bit in a couple of shops, they might be a minute late and they have a parking ticket, which they can't really afford to pay. "It seems as if Coulsdon is being targeted and it's going to bring trade for a lot of businesses down." But Richard Hough, owner of Autoclutch car repair garage on Station Road, South Norwood, said it was important people who commit serious parking offences were given severe fines to stop them doing it again. However, he added: "If they are putting the fines up then they should have some sort of system for those people who have a genuine reason for parking on a yellow line for five minutes. "If you up the fine, you've got to up the waiting time allowed too. That's what Eric Pickles has been saying. "I think with the amount of parking tickets and fines for people dropping cigarettes, the council seems to be looking at easy targets. "I wish they put as much time into other types of enforcement such as planning.” Where penalties will sting less There are just 13 roads remaining in Croydon which are classified in Band B and are subject to lesser fines for parking: Auckland Road, SE19 Central Hill, SE19 Church Road, SE19 Crown Dale, SE19 Lansdowne Place, SE19 Westow Hill, SE19 Fox Hill, SE19 Crown Lane, SW16 Hermitage Lane, SW16 Green Lane, Thornton Heath Green Lane, Purley King Henry's Drive, New Addington Skid Hill Lane, New Addington
