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Welcome to the first edition of the SPARKS Programme online newsletter, which will highlight issues impacting enforcement of decriminalised penalty charge notices in the UK and other EU member states. We hope you find the contents interesting and useful to you in your job. Please do forward the ezine to colleagues and business contacts who are also interested in cross-border traffic enforcement, using the link at the end of the ezine Minister consults SPARKS Programme on effective cross-border enforcement Transport Minster of State Rosie Winterton MP has met with the SPARKS Programme to hear our views on the need to enforce civil traffic regulations against all vehicles irrespective of where they are registered. The meeting covered the size of the foreign registered vehicle (FRV) community in the UK, their tendency to infringe the law, weaknesses in the current civil enforcement regime and the solutions SPARKS has identified. Subsequently these solutions were presented to government in SPARKS’ response to the draft Local Transport Bill. Ms Winterton was very interested in SPARKS’ analysis of the issue and our recommendations. Find out more about the meeting Government urged to give DVLA authority to obtain data from overseas licensing agencies Powers enabling the DVLA to obtain vehicle and keeper data from overseas licensing agencies and to share the data with local authorities responsible for traffic enforcement, should be included in the Local Transport Bill, the SPARKS Programme has demanded. This data will allow local authorities to identify and trace the owners of foreign registered vehicles that commit parking and driving offences, then issue a penalty charge notice and pursue for payment – as is the case for UK-registered vehicles. The result will be fairer enforcement and better regulation of the rules of the road, the SPARKS Programme said in its response to the draft Local Transport Bill consultation. Find out more about the SPARKS response Call for changes to European law Legal experts confirm changes to European law will improve enforcement against foreign vehicles Changes to European law, new legislation and bilateral treaties are needed to increase foreign registered vehicles’ compliance with UK civil traffic laws, according to interim findings of the Eurosparks research project. Seminars are being held across Europe this autumn looking in detail at the research findings and recommendations, before representations are made to the European Commission in early 2008. Seminar venues include London, Brussels, Rome, The Hague and Berlin. Find out how to reserve seminar places Huge increase in FRVs entering the UK Dramatic increases in European vehicles entering the UK each year are revealed in the first comprehensive picture of foreign vehicle activity. Over three million foreign registered vehicles enter the UK each year, mainly through the Channel Tunnel and Channel ports. Eighty-seven per cent are cars brought in by visitors and migrants living and working in the UK; just nine per cent are heavy goods vehicles, according to research commissioned by the SPARKS Programme. The research shows government enforcement attention needs to be focussed on cars as well as heavy goods vehicles. Currently foreign vehicles committing civil offences are not centrally monitored in national statistics and so their impact is discounted. Find out more about FRV activity in the UK MPs and peers are more aware of FRV activity in the UK and enforcement difficulties local authorities face following SPARKS inaugural reception in the House of Commons. Almost 80 people attended the reception to launch pioneering research into the scale of foreign vehicle activity across the UK, including cross-party MPs and peers and representatives from many local authorities and transport groups. Find out more about the reception Join petition to increase DVLA powers Now you can make your views about FRV enforcement known to the prime minister by signing a petition that calls on him to allow the DVLA to share FRV data with UK local authorities. More than 200 people have signed the petition asking for the DVLA to be given powers to receive vehicle and owner data from European licensing agencies, and to process and disclose such data for enforcement of parking tickets and other civil traffic penalties. There is still time to sign the petition, which is hosted on the 10 Downing Street website; it closes on 14 October 2007. The SPARKS Programme is an initiative that enables local authorities in the UK and EU member states to collaborate in resolving the issue of cross-border enforcement of civil traffic contraventions. It wants enforcement of traffic regulations to be equally effective against all vehicles irrespective of nationality. Aims include identifying legislative solutions, increasing awareness of the issues within government, working with local authorities to seek common solutions and gathering data to build a coherent picture of the size and impact of the issue. The SPARKS Programme works hard to ensure that information on these websites is up-to-date and accurate and that applications function correctly. We provide the service under terms and conditions available here. The SPARKS Programme will treat any personal information that you provide to us in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. We will not share any of your personal information with third parties unless it is in response to a lawful request for information such as a court order, witness summons, or complaint from a government authority. Your personal information will also not be sold to third parties We welcome your views on this ezine, which should be addressed to the editor Jo Ann Sweeney at jo.ann@sweeneyuk.com |
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 The Sparks Programme www.sparksproject.org |
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