This is a guest post by Brian Mooney, about why he is opposing his council’s new parking permit system.
My council, Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F), has annoyed residents with its new parking permit system, with swingeing rises of up to 328%. To add insult to injury, the new system is online only. Permit renewal is not as easy as before – you have to enter all your data from scratch. It has also been controversially designed to require the uploading of a scan of a driving licence.
The Data Protection Act works to the principle of data minimisation. This exists for good reasons: if sensitive personal data is not there, it can’t be used for identity fraud. Processing data unnecessarily also wastes staff time, at a cost to council taxpayers.
A licence is about driving classes of vehicle UK-wide, and has no connection to vehicle location or keeper status. In theory, one family I know could be denied a permit if their elderly mother temporarily surrenders her licence, even though only her daughter does the driving!
Yet H&F claims the licence scan is needed ‘for fighting fraud’. As I have renewed my permit for several years and am a regular council tax payer, there is no suggestion of fraud in my case. H&F’s demand is irrelevant and irrational; it fails the legal test of ‘necessity’.
Random checks showed other councils manage renewals without it, and Bexley Council rightly does not regard a driving licence as a valid residency document.
In cases where fraud is reasonably suspected and monitoring needed, other ‘targeted and proportionate’ means should be used.
I have tried explaining this to the parking and data protection teams with legal chapter and verse, but I just get back the same standard text excuses. For not complying with ‘their system’, my renewal has been declined. As my old permit has expired, I now have to leave my car with friends several miles away.
Can residents fight back?
Despite calmly laying out the facts, I have so far got nowhere with an ‘independently assessed’ internal complaint. I have referred the matter to the data processing regulator, the ICO, but this can take weeks. Despite the fact that demanding unnecessary data risks the highest category of fines, H&F seems unfazed. It has so far just dug its heels in. Going to court is seen legally as a last resort and involves a cost.
Even so, after my official complaint, H&F moved the Cabinet Member responsible for the mess. Her replacement used a council newsletter for a gushing offer: ‘I am committed to making sure everything you see, love and experience in our borough reflects what you truly want and need.’ (abridged for brevity)
When I took up his offer, he amazingly suggested that I take the matter up with my ward councillors!
Fortunately, we are 10 months away from council elections. When only about 40,000 people are likely to vote, it is truly politically inept to alienate up to 28,000 permit holders.
I am not party political, but I have produced a leaflet asking residents to write to the main senior councillors responsible. Like-minded locals are helping to get the leaflet out in bulk.
Other tactics are planned so that the issue won’t go away. This deterrent may be a good investment in everyone’s future. If a council feels it can get away with murder, then heaven knows what it might try if given free rein over local bye-laws (See the Manifesto Club article on the English Devolution White Paper).
Brian Mooney is a retired IT consultant. See here for more information about his campaign.