Motorists wrongly charged for parking violations in Reading are set to miss out on £289,000 in refunds after the borough council announced it would close its compensation scheme with just 12.8 per cent of eligible claims processed.
The local authority revealed that only 783 claims had been approved for refund since launching the restitution programme a year ago, despite admitting it incorrectly issued 6,136 penalty charge notices between 2013 and 2024.
The scheme was established after the council discovered multiple traffic regulation order irregularities that meant thousands of parking fines had no legal basis.
The closure comes as an estimated 5,353 affected motorists remain uncompensated, with the vast majority unable to be traced or unaware of their eligibility for repayment.
The enforcement errors centred on the East Route, a major non-stopping thoroughfare comprising Kings Road from its junction with Watlington Street through to Cemetery Junction, Wokingham Road and portions of adjacent streets.
Council documents revealed that an experimental traffic regulation order made in January 2018 was only valid for six months rather than the intended 18-month period.
Despite the order expiring in July 2018, enforcement continued unlawfully for years.
Internal investigations found that several officers knew about the invalid order from September 2019 but continued issuing fines.
The council admitted that "enforcement officers were aware of the issue but continued with enforcement as senior managers had not given instructions to cease enforcement or deal with the problem."
The council only processed 12.8 per cent of the eligible claims
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But the irregularities meant all penalty notices issued on these routes lacked any legal authority.
The council's year-long effort to trace affected motorists yielded limited results despite multiple outreach attempts.
Officials wrote directly to 2,235 people but received only 51 new claims after May, following an initial surge prompted by social media campaigns and media coverage.
Jackie Yates, the council's chief executive, said she "sincerely apologised" to people affected by the mistakes.
"Parking enforcement action was suspended as soon as the Council became aware of the specific TRO issues, and further action is being taken to ensure that the circumstances which led to this situation don't happen again," she shared.
A committee meeting in September concluded the issue had "been in the public domain with sufficient attention for almost a year" before deciding to end the scheme.
Drivers were fined incorrectly between 2013 and 2024
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But the council's attempts to locate eligible motorists faced significant obstacles, particularly for older cases.
Reading Borough Council confirmed it did not retain personal data for most penalty notice payments, which severely limited its ability to trace those who paid fines years ago.
Officials also reportedly did not attempt to cross-reference their records with council tax databases, the Electoral Register or other internal systems that might have identified affected residents.
This approach may have particularly disadvantaged older motorists and those on lower incomes who are less likely to appear in commercial credit databases.
The council had incorrectly fined drivers for traffic offences
| PAHowever, the council has confirmed that motorists can still submit claims to the parking team despite the formal scheme ending.
The authority stated that money would continue to be paid to those who make valid claims to Parking Services.
An October 2024 council report detailed how the error was known to multiple officers who reported it to service managers, but those managers left the organisation without addressing the problem.
The situation persisted until it was reported to current management earlier this year, prompting an internal audit investigation that uncovered additional traffic regulation order irregularities across the borough requiring remediation.