Richmond Council reveals places they give out parking tickets

We had a look at data for Richmond from November 2017 to October 2020.

Most tickets are for residents parking and other parking related offences:

• 22,000 tickets - Parked in a residents or shared use parking place without clearly displaying a permit or pay and display ticket issued for that location (Code 12)
• 8,800 tickets - Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours (Code 1)
• 6,300 tickets - Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket (Code 6)

The types of ticket given out by Richmond Council

But as well as tickets for parking at the wrong time, 15% of tickets are for yellow boxes and 6% for parking on the pavement:

• 13,000 tickets - Entering and stopping in a box junction when prohibited (Code 31)
• 4,800 tickets - Parked with one or more wheels on any part of an urban road other than a carriageway, footway parking (Code 62)

The time of day you are most likely to get a ticket

Within the borough the postcodes where you are most likely to get a ticket are:

• TW1 in Twickenham where 20,600 tickets are issued to value of £2 million
• TW9 in Richmond where 16,400 tickets are issued to value of £1.6 million
• TW12, Hampton where 12,000 tickets are issued to value of £1.5 million

Top 5 parking ticket hotspots 

I visited the 5 biggest parking ticket hotspots to investigate why tickets are being issued at these locations and how you might avoid getting caught yourself.

This is what I discovered:

1. Upper Sunbury Road nr Lower Sunbury Rd, TW12 (18 Tkts/Day)

The yellow box junction here looks innocuous, but it catches a significant number of drivers out. People get caught here through the day, but especially during the morning and evening rush hour as well as at lunchtime.

There are traffic lights at the junction, but they should not result in cars having to stop on the yellow lines.

If the lights turn red, any cars on the junction can simply drive through.

Upper Sunbury Road nearr Lower Sunbury Road

But there is an easy mistake that can catch you out. Because the road is quite narrow, if you follow a car onto the box, and it then decides to take a right turn, it will have to wait for the oncoming traffic to clear.

You will be stuck behind it.

The car in front of you is allowed to stop on the box because they are turning right. But you will get a ticket because you have stopped on the box because of a stationary vehicle in front of you.

If this happens to you, then turning right yourself might be a good option.

2. Heath Road, TW1 (8 Tkts/Day)

The bus lane along Heath Road runs most of the way from Twickenham Green to King Street. It is clearly marked but still results in 6 tickets per day. Most of these penalties are issued during the day and evening where some may have been tempted to jump the line of traffic by nipping through the bus lane. But curiously tickets are being issued through the night. In fact, 5% of these tickets are being issued between midnight and 6am.

Pay and display parking offences and parking in a loading bay make up another 2 tickets per day. Issued between 8:30am and 6:30pm on Monday to Saturday with more tickets issued in the morning.

3. Sheen Road, TW10 (7 Tkts/Day)

The Pay and Display parking bays on Sheen Road between Lichfield Court and Lichfield Gardens operate from 8:30am to 6:30pm, Monday to Saturday with slightly fewer hours on Sunday. These hours are marked clearly on the signs.

So the 5 tickets a day issued here are likely to be because some drivers have overstayed or perhaps thought they will be able to nip to the shops and back without buying a ticket.

Another 10 ticket a week are issued for parking on the double yellow lines in this area. Remember, even though there are no loading restrictions, you need to be able to show that you are loading or unloading something that is big enough to need your car. Otherwise, it will be counted as parked.

4. The Green, TW9 (6 Tkts/Day)

The Green is a road that wraps around the south of Richmond Park and has residents parking restrictions along its length.

But the eastern stretch has restrictions from 8:30am to 6:30pm Monday to Saturday with slightly less restricted time on a Sunday. While, in contrast, the western part is restricted from 8am to Midnight every day including Bank Holidays.

The Green

Unfortunately, not reading the signs carefully can catch you out. 20% of the tickets on this road are issued after 8pm when people parked in the eastern stretch may think that restrictions do not apply. 25% of all the tickets issued here are issued on a Sunday. This is an unusually large proportion and could again be because of confusion over restriction times.

5. Upper Sunbury Road nr Percy Rd, TW12 (5 Tkts/Day)

There does not seem to be any reason why tickets would be issued at this yellow box junction. Just stopping on the box is not an offence.

To be issued with a ticket you must enter the box and stop because of a stationary vehicle.

There are no traffic lights to stop cars after the box and force you to become stationary. And the traffic seems to flow well even in rush hour.

I watched the junction for some time, during the rush hour, trying to work out how tickets are being issued here and I did see one possibility. I saw a car turning right onto Upper Sunbury Road from Percy Road which had to wait on the box for a gap in the traffic to complete the turn.

This would mean that a driver on the main road could find their way blocked by this car and may stop on the yellow lines.

For more, visit: https://www.proviser.com/uk/parking-tickets/locgov/richmond-upon-thames/locations