Labour has been urged to introduce a standard format for parking and traffic fines across the UK, in a move that could make the system easier for motorists and businesses to manage penalties.
The request comes from fleet management software company FleetCheck, which warned that the current Penalty Charge Notices system varies too much depending on who issues them.
Under the current structure, local councils, police forces and private parking firms all use different layouts and wording for fines.
However, FleetCheck noted that this creates confusion and slows down the process for companies that manage large numbers of vehicles.
The business warned that fleets have been dealing with increasing numbers of PCNs every year, with some employers now hiring staff purely to process fines and respond to notices.
Callum Haymon-Collins, chief operating officer at FleetCheck, said: “Handling PCNs is a major bugbear for fleets and one that seems to be a greater burden year-by-year.
“Quantities are rising, and some of our users are having to employ people purely to deal with them. A key complaint is that every issuer of PCNs appears to use their own format.
“This makes them slow for people to manually process because they often have to read every document in full, but also reduces opportunities for automation.”
The operator warned lack of consistency between notices issued by different organisations
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FleetCheck explained that a standard design for PCNs could help speed up payments, reduce mistakes and make it easier for businesses to deal with fines.
The company also said technology such as optical character recognition (OCR) and artificial intelligence could play a much bigger role if documents followed the same format nationwide.
OCR software can scan printed text and automatically pull out important information, while AI systems could help process notices more quickly, Mr Haymon-Collins said.
He explained that this could create greater standardisation, which would make these tools more accurate and easier to develop.
The simplified structure would help fleet operators who have to deal with various penalty authorities
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FleetCheck explained that a standard design for PCNs could help speed up payments, reduce mistakes and make it easier for businesses to deal with fines.
The company also said technology such as optical character recognition and artificial intelligence could play a much bigger role if documents followed the same format nationwide.
OCR software can scan printed text and automatically pull out important information, while AI systems could help process notices more quickly, Mr Haymon-Collins said.
He explained that this could create greater standardisation, which would make these tools more accurate and easier to develop.
Experts have called for a unified penalty system to be introduced
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The expert added: “The diversity of PCN designs creates problems for those collecting fines, too, because it leads to a generally higher level of errors in fleet responses and a need for ongoing dialogues.
“The main difficulty fleets will face in pushing for a standard national format is the question of who might facilitate this happening?
“Probably the most obvious candidates are one of the industry bodies. Certainly, the evidence we see suggests that it would be a hugely popular move with fleet managers.”
While it hopes to see new rules introduced, FleetCheck acknowledged that it would be difficult to introduce a national system.