Park properly - or pay up!

Civil Enforcement Officers in the town already have the use of mopeds and mountain bikes, but can now call on four-wheeled back-up as well.

APCOA has been providing parking enforcement services for the Council since 2001 and has just entered the second year of a five-year contract.

Since March 1 last year APCOA's Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) have been working to the British Parking Association's customer service-based Model Contract.

The Model Contract is aimed at raising standards in the parking industry and is based on a partnering approach founded on openness and trust.

Peter Wright, Parking Contract Manager for the Council, said: "The fast response car enables to respond quickly in the event of parking problems.

"If our control room is alerted to a motorist who has parked in a dangerous location it can radio through to the fast response car which can get there in minutes."

CEOs operate in Southend between the hours of 7am and 9pm. The exact location of each officer is tracked by staff in the state-of-the-art control room.

Mr Wright said: "The relationship between the Council and APCOA is an outstanding example of partnership working.

"A number of London councils have been across to visit Southend to see how we are operating the system.

"The performance targets we set for APCOA are based on how much ground their CEOs cover and not on how many tickets they issue.

"The perfect result of our partnership would be zero parking tickets issued across the borough because that would mean everyone was parking legally and safely.

"In the mean time the new fast response car will enable APCOA's staff to be even more efficient in cracking down on dangerous and inconsiderate parking."

For more information about this media release please call the Media and Communications Team on 01702-215000 ext 5939 or e-mail media@southend.gov.uk.