Disabled bay rules ignored by drivers
NORTH MOTORISTS WORST IN UK FOR TAKING SPACES
LOOK away now if you’re a disabled driver in the North East.
A survey has revealed motorists in this region are the most likely in the UK to park in a disabled space – if they thought they could get away with it.
Of those asked, 16.7% admitted they’d do it, beating Northern Ireland (15.7%) and motorists in the South West (12.7%) into second and third place respectively.
The research was carried out by car leasing company Cars On Demand, which conducted a survey of 3,000 drivers.
It also set out to discover how drivers react to parking tickets and traffic wardens, with a staggering 12 tickets issued every minute between October and December 2017.
And it seems the North East drivers are among the most likely to challenge a parking ticket.
A huge 33% said they’d take on the authorities – the third highest figure for the UK which had an average of 25.8%.
And it seems men are more likely to put up a fight – or, perhaps more believe they are in the right – as 28.6% of men would contest a parking fine, compared to 23% of women.
The Scots are the least likely to challenge a fine, with only 18.9% trying to get out of paying. This was closely followed by those in the South West (20%), then those in the West Midlands (22.4%).
Given that so many drivers would contest a parking fine, it’s not surprising that the study revealed that 12% of Brits have actually argued with the traffic warden issuing a parking fine.
Again, it is men who are more likely to put up the fight, with 17% admitting they’ve argued with the warden, compared to just 7% of women.
However, while it seems parking wardens in the East Midlands are the most likely in the UK to get a hard time, with 19.2% of motorists there saying they wouldn’t just take the ticket quietly, in the North East the figure was among the lowest at 6.6%.
Cars On Demand also found 68.8% of us think parking fines are just a money-making scheme from the local council, rather than a way of deterring people from breaking the rules.
In addition to this, 46.7% of Brits state that they would struggle to pay a parking fine – which is probably another reason why so many people try to wiggle their way out of it.