After Dispatch readers helped highlight widespread illegal parking across Enfield, extra enforcement officers will arrive in May, reports James Cracknell

Council leader Ergin Erbil in Hertford Road, where pavement parking is a persistent problem

More parking enforcement officers are set to be deployed on the streets of Enfield following an investigation published by the Dispatch last month.

Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil said that an additional 16 officers will start work in May as part of a fresh crackdown on pavement parking – representing a 50% boost to local enforcement.

Throughout February the Dispatch asked readers to submit photos of illegal parking and, in March, published dozens of photos demonstrating the enormous scale of the problem, with every high street in the borough now blighted by regular and persistent pavement parking.

Cllr Erbil said that he too was angered by the issue and since the investigation was published had asked NSL, the council’s parking enforcement contractor, to hire more officers.

Last month the Labour leader met with the Dispatch in Enfield Highway to view the problem first-hand, and confirmed the additional resources now being deployed to tackle it.

“Sixteen more parking enforcement officers will start in May,” Cllr Erbil said. “They are in training right now.

“I have also asked for them [NSL’s existing officers] to work additional hours in evenings and weekends. We have pushed them on it.

“One of the first questions I asked when I became leader was ‘where are our parking enforcement officers?’ We don’t see them on our high streets.

“I am really happy that we are going to get more.”

Cllr Erbil said the junction of Green Street and Hertford Road in Enfield Highway was a hot-spot for pavement parking because of a large area in front of shops where there are no bollards or fences to stop cars mounting the kerb.

While the Dispatch was speaking to the council leader, one driver arrived to park on the pavement, but drove off after being confronted by Cllr Erbil. “I am doing the enforcement officers’ job for them,” he joked.

Cllr Erbil confronts a driver parking illegally in Green Street, who subsequently drove off

“I push a pram around sometimes as well, if a car is on the pavement we have to walk around it and that can be dangerous.

“What some drivers don’t realise is that the pavement isn’t designed for cars, so parking on it can cause damage and make the pavement uneven, making it more dangerous for people with mobility issues.”

One explanation given for why illegal parking has proliferated in the borough in recent years is a change to the law made ten years ago that limited the ability to use photographic or CCTV evidence to issue penalty charge notices, instead relying on catching drivers in the act.

Cllr Erbil said he had now written to the government to ask to get this law changed and was hopeful ministers would listen.

Separately, parking and traffic penalty charges will be increasing across London from 7th April, the first rise since 2011. The highest fines will now be £160.

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for transport, Rick Jewell, said: “The majority of drivers abide by the rules and will therefore not feel any impact at all. The charges are in place to make our roads safer, reduce congestion and to keep the borough moving and most drivers respect that.

“For those who park in cycle lanes, stop on zig-zag markings, park on the footway blocking pedestrian access and on yellow lines so that the waste teams cannot access roads to empty bins – you have been warned. We are going to have more officers patrolling our streets and they will issue you with a PCN if you are found breaking the rules.

“We will also continue to jointly lobby the government with other London councils for a change in rules which restricts us from using CCTV for general parking enforcement except in certain cases such as red routes, bus stops or school keep-clear markings.

“PCNs for parking offences can only generally be issued by enforcement officers who are present at the time of the offence. This restriction is, in our opinion, counterproductive and we would ask the government and the mayor of London to revisit this as a matter of urgency, to help our borough become safer and ease congestion.”

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