Appendix 1
1 Draft
S.I: memorandum from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment)
etc. Regulations 2010 (Draft S.I.)
1. This memorandum is in response
to the Committee's request dated 10 March 2010.
2. The Committee has asked:
"(1) Are the exemptions in article 7
intended to apply only to charges payable under regulation 5 and,
if so, why is this not made clear?
(2) Given that regulation 5 does not specify
when a parking charge is payable, how is it intended to be established
that a contravention of that regulation has occurred (see regulation
8(2))?"
The Department's response is as
follows.
3. The exemptions in regulation
7 apply only to charges payable under regulation 5. This is not
expressly stated as we understand it to be clear from the structure
of the Regulations. Regulation 1 deals with matters of commencement,
citation and interpretation. Regulations 2, 3 and 4 amend existing
legislation relating to the Royal Parks[1]
whereas regulations 5 to 8 are stand-alone provisions which are
independent of, and make no amendment to, existing Regulations.
Regulation 5 provides for the introduction of parking charges
in Bushy Park and Richmond Park, regulation 6 provides for an
excess charge scheme in relation to those charges and regulation
7 provides for exemptions to the charges in regulation 5.
4. Therefore the Department
did not consider it necessary to state that regulation 7 applies
only to the charges payable under regulation 5 and thought it
preferable to use fewer words where possible. It does not consider
that any ambiguity arises from the references to parking charges
in regulation 7, which must refer to the only charges imposed
by another free-standing provision, namely regulation 5.
5. In response to the Committee's
second question, regulation 5 provides that a parking charge is
payable in respect of a vehicle parked in a parking place during
the specified period. In the Department's view it is implicit
in the wording of paragraph (1) of regulation 5 that the obligation
on a driver of a vehicle to pay the parking charge is triggered
by the act of parking a vehicle in a parking place in Bushy or
Richmond Park and that the charge becomes due and payable at that
time. The payment for the intended duration of the car's stay
in the parking place must be made forthwith once the car is parked;
and any additional payment must be made forthwith if the car remains
parked after the initial paid period expires. The administrative
arrangements for operation of the scheme, including the various
means by which the charge can be paid, will be described in a
notice exhibited by or on behalf of the Secretary of State at
the relevant car park, as described in regulation 5(5).
6. In the Department's view
the reference to a sum "not ... duly paid" in regulation
8(2) is a reference to a sum not paid as described above. A motorist
who left a vehicle in a parking place without paying in a manner
described in the Secretary of State's notice would have failed
to have "duly paid" the charge. Although there would
be some leeway in practice in respect of minor and reasonable
delays (e.g. the time taken to read the notice and make any necessary
arrangements (including driving away if the person concerned is
unable or unwilling to comply with the notice)), leaving the car
parked without making payment would render the motorist liable
to enforcement action under the Regulations.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
15 March 2010
1 The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations
1997 (S.I. 1997/1639), the Greenwich Park (Vehicle Parking) Regulations
2000 (S.I. 2000/934) and the Hyde Park and The Regent's Park (Vehicle
Parking) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/993) respectively. Back
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