So loud  is the fanfare proclaiming the life-enhancing benefits that will accompany the introduction of civil parking enforcement in Lincolnshire that we cannot help feel that it will all end in tears.

“Around” 20 Lincolnshire County Council parking enforcement officers wearing distinctive green and blue uniforms start work on 3^rd December – about two months later than planned.
How many of these officers will work in Boston has not been disclosed – but we would think that it is unlike to be more than a couple.
The issue was raised during last Friday’s Lincolnshire County Council meeting by Independent Councillor for Boston West, Ray Newell, in a question to the highways portfolio holder Councillor William Webb.
Councillor Newell said: “Regrettably there has been very little on-road parking enforcement in Boston by the police for several years. Civil parking enforcement, beginning just before Christmas will come as an enormous shock to many drivers who park illegally.
“To many Bostonians, yellow lines mark a free parking space it would seem, but not for much longer. 
“Will you consider implementing a campaign to inform and warn drivers using as many means as possible that a new parking regime will start in Boston on 3^rd December this year?
“Even if successful there will, I suspect be a large number of disgruntled illegal parkers.”
Councillor Webb’s reply painted what may well become a nightmare picture in the run up to Christmas, saying that the council’s publicity plans  included issuing dummy tickets a week before the new regime comes into force.  
He told Councillor Newell: “We will be advertising widely in the press the fact that the enforcement which is already in place – whether or not it has been taken up recently – will come in on 3^rd December…   As well as the announcements in the press,  there will be a week in advance of that … when we shall be issuing dummy tickets as a warning to people that this is going to take place.
“I can assure you that when it comes in it will be a huge benefit to traffic in towns, to shoppers using the parking bays, and for the people who find that they cannot get through the roads because vehicles are parked where they should not be parked at the moment. It can only be good news for everyone in the county.”
Perhaps in the longer term it will be good news – but in the short term we think that it is a recipe for chaos.
The police have failed to enforce parking in Boston for so long that motorists probably believe that regulations do not exist.
Boston Borough Council – whilst stamping its feet and muttering darkly – has also done absolutely nothing.
Now, apparently out of the blue as far as illegal parkers are concerned, tickets for either £70 or £50 are to be handed out – depending on the nature of the offence. The penalty is reduced by 50% if it is paid within 14 days.
But it’s the timing of all this that concerns us most.
The date for the introduction of civil parking enforcement is exactly three weeks before Christmas Eve – so it can be said with some certainty that parking chaos ahead of the start of enforcement will be inevitable.
Add to the mixture a week’s worth of dummy tickets before the start date and the recipe for a lot of ill-will and confusion will be bubbling towards boiling point.
And advertising in our local newspapers is no longer the way to reach a big audience that it once was.
Whilst we don’t endorse illegal and inconsiderate parking, we think that this is one occasion when it would have made more sense to delay its introduction by a few more weeks – especially as it is already well behind its target.
Certainly in Boston, where major  enforcement will be required in the first few weeks, it will seen  as a pre-Christmas purge, hitting the pockets of people who are already spending more than they can probably afford on the festive season.
A delay until the start of January would mean that enforcement could be introduced during a quieter period, which would give things a chance to settle down - and for the word to get around that illegal parking is no longer tolerated.
Perhaps a good halfway house between 3^rd December and the New Year would be for the wardens to enforce the regulation without penalty – which would be seen as a gesture of goodwill at a time when we are supposed to be spreading it around.
It’s all just too sensible to consider, isn’t it?

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