An open letter from Councillor Jeff Hanna (Labour, Pollards Hill ward), to Stephen Alambritis, the leader of Merton Council.

Dear Stephen,

I write to express concern that some council officers appear to be excessively legalistic in dealing with members of the public, as reported in recent editions of the Wimbledon Guardian.

As a Labour administration I believe we should be ensuring all officers bring a human face to their roles, as most already do.

Recent cases show there is room for improvement.

The most recent is that of Debbie King, who paid £10 to park in Hartfield Road but was fined, even after appealing, because her ticket curled on the dashboard.

I had a similar experience in Kingston a few months ago.

I paid for a parking ticket, put in on my dashboard, but received a penalty notice for failure to display because, my fault or otherwise, it ended up upside down.

I wrote to the council, enclosed the ticket showing payment made, and the penalty notice was cancelled.

I would have wanted Mrs King’s case to be dealt with just as sympathetically by Merton.

The letter from 'A Disgruntled Merton Park Resident' (Box junction penalities are a penny-pinching strategy, June 14), following his penalty charge for being in the Kingston Road/Dorset Road box junction is of similar concern. The gentleman is correct.

The junction is extremely difficult for those turning right. If the gentleman was indeed following another vehicle turning right, then the Highway Code seems to support his argument and the penalty charge might reasonably have been waived.

But his letter also highlights the need for this junction to be reviewed.

You will be as concerned, as I am, that residents are treated reasonably, sympathetically and fairly.

I do not know if these cases result from an unnecessarily harsh management approach, or if a few individual officers need to be advised to apply judgement more flexibly.

May I suggest, if you have not already done so, you raise the issue with senior officers, and seek action to ensure the human face of the council consistently prevails.

Make sure your voice is heard by sending your letter to: letters@wimbledonguardian.co.uk

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