City's car tax haven

At times the streets resemble a scrapyard as vandals seize at the chance to wreck a car left untaxed and abandoned.

Even when the motors are towed away by the authorities, they are swiftly replaced by more illegal vehicles.

It is not only the wrecks which blight residential areas around Essex Street and Upper Bedford Street in Kemp Town, Brighton.

Many are in reasonable condition but whenever they are left abandoned without tax, they are taking up valuable space in an area where motorists are already being driven to distraction as they vie for a place to park cars near homes.

There are no parking restrictions in this area but scores of motorists spill out from the controlled parking zones at either side of Essex Street and Upper Bedford Street, making the parking problems much worse.

What really drives residents mad is when they are given parking tickets while illegally-dumped cars are allowed to take up valuable parking space outside their homes without any action to move them.

In three streets in Kemp Town, reporters from The Argus counted 20 cars either without tax discs or with out-of-date discs.

There were six untaxed cars on Essex Street, two on Upper Bedford Street and 12 on Somerset Street.

One of the complaints was unfounded because the car was foreign and therefore tax exempt.

Cars had also been attacked by vandals.

The combination of abandoned cars, wrecks and overspill from controlled parking zones is making lives a daily nightmare.

Residents blame either Brighton and Hove City Council for failing to clear the nuisance cars or workers or visitors to the nearby Royal Sussex County Hospital for taking up spaces outside their homes.

The three thriving car repair garages nearby have also come under fire for making use of unrestricted parking to park cars while they are not being worked on, even though this is a perfectly legal practice.

Residents say parking attendants rarely patrol streets and only act when vehicles are dangerously parked or causing an obstruction.

One resident living in nearby Lavender Street, who did not want to be named, said although traffic wardens fine motorists who park illegally, the untaxed cars remain.

He argued if the untaxed cars were not there, there would be more spaces for paying motorists.

He said: "These wardens come round and they walk straight past them. Providing they are parked where they should be they do not care about it.

"If these untaxed cars were moved out the way it would make life a lot easier."

Derrick Henderson. landlord of the Stag Inn in Upper Bedford Street, said: "It is parking chaos around here and the dumped cars without discs are the problem. It is not always the local garages.

"About once a month, we phone up and ask for them to be taken away.

"Notices are put on them and then they are towed away. Then, in the next three or four days, more abandoned cars start to arrive.

"I don't know where they come from."

Steve Kennard, proprietor of 1st Choice Garage in Montague Place, said he and his staff often got the blame for parking problems in the area.

"I am as frustrated about the number of untaxed and dumped cars as anyone else.

"We do park cars in the streets after we have finished repairing them but this is not a controlled parking area and we have the same right to park as anyone else.

"If we don't park in spaces we find, they would be taken up by workers from American Express, staff at the hospital or Brighton College.

"We have been targeted as the villains of the piece by certain residents, even to the extent of leaflets being left on our cars. I am fed up with the whispering campaign against us.

"I am perfectly willing to sit down with the residents, police and council officials to sort out the problem."

Retired policeman Michael Toft, 74, of Jacqueline Du Pre Street, said: "We have dumped cars all along here. We get a lot of untaxed vehicles and we get a lot of stolen ones. There are cars smashed up all over the place. A Mini has been there for six months."

He also accused nearby garages of blocking up parking spaces with cars.

Mr Toft said: "They are using the road as a shuttle service. They will pick up four cars that are going to be repaired. They will take one out and put another one in."

Rosa Humphrey, 55, of Essex Street, said: "You should not be able to park here unless you are living here or visiting, but no one takes any notice.

"We want people to take notice. It needs a new sign up."

John Grant, owner of Grant's Garage on Montague Place, admitted his garage could have eight customer cars at a time parked on surrounding streets but said they were all parked legally and were taxed.

He said none of the untaxed cars belonged to his garage or customers.

His staff had to park on neighbouring roads.

He said the untaxed cars caused a problem for his garage because they took up spaces which the garage could use.

"This place has been a garage for 70 years. By the essence of the business, cars have to come and go.

"We tend to have the parking spaces when residents are at work. We tend not to be using them at night."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said although the council was responsible for parking, it was the responsibility of the DVLA to deal with untaxed cars.

The council had two blitzes on abandoned, unsafe and untaxed cars last year after working with police and the DVLA.

The spokeswoman said the council was not aware of a problem in Kemp Town but would now investigate and consider working with the DVLA again to rid the area of untaxed cars.

She said: "The parking attendants can't do anything because they are legally parked.

"Untaxed vehicles have to be legally dealt with by the DVLA. We are going to look into them."

A spokeswoman from the DVLA said it could work with the council to tackle the problem and promised its staff would patrol the area, with wheel clamps and cameras to tackle untaxed cars.

She said parking attendants did fill in forms for the DVLA to report untaxed cars and the owners were prosecuted and fined.

She said it was likely the owners of those on the street which have been there for some time had already been prosecuted and the charges been paid even though it did not look as if anything had happened.

She said: "The parking attendants do report unlicensed vehicles."

Brighton and Hove city councillor Chris Morley, chairman of the environment committee, which has responsibility for overseeing the city's parking policy, said: "The council fully appreciates the parking difficulties which affect residents in some areas of the city.

"We have to deal with these problems in a measured, organised way district by district and with full consultation from residents.

"We are currently looking at areas throughout the city as a whole and parking in Kemp Town will be considered as part of this process within the next 12 months.

"If residents have problems in particular streets in this area they should contact the parking office with details.

"We have already addressed areas in Hove and this has resulted in significant improvements in parking for residents and visitors."