Residents of Rumney may be frustrated by increased levels of illegal parking, but data released by the South Wales Police in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request suggests that other areas may be worse afflicted.
At the Rumney Partnerships and Communities Together meeting yesterday, residents complained that they were unable to leave their homes due to cars parked at the end of their driveways.
One resident said:
"It took me 45 minutes to get out of my drive. They go away when you give out 30-odd tickets, but as soon as the police presence disappears they come back.
"It's the constant abuse of parking on the drive which I have to put up with. When you're trying to go to work it's a real annoyance and very frustrating."
However, figures indicate that Rumney has been issued fewer parking tickets than other wards in Cardiff over the last two years. New data released by South Wales Police shows that 103 tickets were issued in 2008, rising to 151 in 2009.
These relatively modest figures afford a marked contrast with other areas of Cardiff. In Splott, for example, 4,656 tickets were issued in 2008 and 4,600 in 2009. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Cathays is the ward with the highest figures for illegal parking, although the total has gone down from 14,706 in 2008 to 12,905 in 2009. Ely, meanwhile, is the area where the fewest tickets are issued – 45 in 2008, and just 20 in 2009.
In January and February of this year, the period covered by the figures, 6,484 tickets were issued in Cardiff. You can download all the parking data sets gained from the FOI request on the site WhatDoTheyKnow.
