Parking app helps to dish out fines
2012-11-21 11:05
BIG BROTHER ON THE PROWL: The TCP parking app can help drivers find empty parking spaces as well as traffic wardens to find drivers who overstay their welcome
LONDON, England - A parking sensor tool to help drivers find empty spaces could enable traffic officials to hand out more tickets.
The UK's Metereye system called Town and City Parking (TCP), works by transmitting signals from a sensor placed on the floor of a parking bay. The senor records the vehicle arrival and departure time and transmits the information to your mobile device.
Handy when hunting for parking space but equally beneficial to traffic cops hoping to dish out tickets to those drivers who have overstayed their welcome.
PARKING AT A PRICE
Using the data, a traffic warden can make a note of the time a vehicle arrived at the bay and what time it left... or should have left.
According to the DailyMail, while many have championed the technology for drivers, motoring organisations warned of traffic wardens utilising the same technology.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, told the Daily Telegraph: "This gives wardens the equivalent of eyes in the backs of their heads.
"The all-knowing equipment will be good for the parking industry and in car parks where space is at a premium. Some drivers might ask, 'Where's the sense of fair play?' Motorists will hope it won't encourage attendants to lie in wait for people who have only slightly overstayed their welcome."
Lewis Johnson, an analyst with the Westminster council, said that the Metereye technology could be used to identify streets frequented by drivers and raise charges accordingly.
He said: "It is likely to confirm drivers' suspicions that this sort of technology favours Big Brother rather than the motorist, despite what the councils say."
