Bedford Driving Lessons

Almost 9,000 parking tickets have gone unpaid in a cash strapped town after a computer blip which went on for a year. An IT bottleneck meant the legal department collecting fines was not passed the essential information it needed about the £30 fixed penalties. The blip cost taxpayers in Oldham, Greater Manchester £283,000 in lost revenue as a result of fines not being paid. It was discovered whilst finance officials were budgeting for road improvements – but they claimed it could not be resolved due to technical difficulties. The Liberal Democrat run council – already facing a £5m legal bill for the bungled fraud prosecution of a local businessman – blamed ”system failure” and insisted the fines would now be pursued. But local Labour councillor Peter Dean said: ”This is clearly incompetence by the Lib-Dem-controlled council, who have failed to collect monies owed. ”This leaves a big hole of £283,000 in the council’s already very tight budget and is mismanagement on a gigantic scale.” More