Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is warning serial parking fine evaders that they risk having their vehicle towed away and impounded.
The council will now be using legislation to crack down on those who persistently park illegally and then ignore fines.
A persistent evader is someone who has a vehicle with three or more Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) which have not been paid, or where the vehicle keeper details are missing or out of date.
If such a vehicle is seen parked in contravention of parking restrictions, the council will be able to issue a further PCN and arrange removal to a secure pound where the vehicle owner will have to pay a £105 removal fee and £12 a day storage charge.
The keeper will be required to prove ownership, and pay the removal/storage fees to retrieve their vehicle and their outstanding debts will then be pursued.
Cllr Tony Cox, Executive Cllr for Transport, Waste and Cleansing, says: “Vehicles removal is a commonly used parking enforcement measure to combat illegal and dangerous parking.
“What this legislation allows us to do is remove vehicles that are consistently parked in contravention of restrictions and whose owners consistently ignore their subsequent penalty charge notices.
“To start with we will be targeting persistent offenders and those with three or more unpaid fines. However in the longer term, we will also be looking to use this legislation to remove vehicles parked dangerously or causing an obstruction.
“We will also be able to relocate vehicles where they are parked in a position which is preventing works or an event taking place, and a driver has ignored additional parking restrictions that have been put in place to accommodate this.”
Vehicle removal is used by many councils up and down the country, including Birmingham City Council, Manchester City Council, and many London Boroughs such as Brent, Hounslow, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Camden.