Cash-strapped Croydon Council, under failed Mayor Jason Perry, has been spending thousands of pounds of tax-payers’ money to pay off staff and contractors’ parking fines – while at the same time boasting about a “zero tolerance” crackdown on illegal parking.
Tory Perry’s Croydon is among four London councils that have been found to have used public money to pay Penalty Charge Notices and other road fines “over several years”, according to a report in the Torygraph.
The other councils mentioned in the report are Hackney (previously Labour-controlled), Lewisham (a one-party Labour council until May) and Wandsworth (also Labour-run until May’s local elections).
Hackney spent £10,250 in the last financial year on parking and traffic fines incurred by staff.
In Lewisham, £15,350 was spent settling 40 PCNs racked up by its staff and contractors between May 2024 and December 2025, the latest period for which figures are available.
At Wandsworth, staff and contractors incurred £10,040 in PCNs and other penalties from January 2023 to March 2026. “The council settled all these charges using procurement cards,” the Torygraph reports.
‘Soft touch’: Mayor Jason Perry has been using your money to pay for his staff’s motoring fines
A Wandsworth council spokesperson told the newspaper that the payments were made to secure an early-payment discount, and that money was recovered from the vehicle’s driver if they were found to be at fault. They failed to mention how often those payments were claimed from their ticketed staff.
The figure for the council funding staff fines in Croydon was £3,244.
“Croydon will no longer be seen as a soft touch or a place where people can commit antisocial acts without consequence,” soft-touch Perry said last year.
“If you do not pay your way, expect your car to be towed away.” Oh.
The Croydon figures cover January 2023 to March 2025, the latest period available. Jason Perry has been Mayor of Croydon since May 2022.
Even these figures may be low-balling the amounts forked out for council staff’s poor parking and bad driving, as councils, including Croydon, fail to be entirely transparent about their spending. The Torygraph admits its numbers are based “on available spending records, which are published inconsistently”.
They say: “Some councils disclose only purchase-card payments above £250, while others publish smaller transactions but have not released recent figures. Several councils disclosed PCN payments only after Freedom of Information requests.”
How to claim an LTN refund from Croydon Council
- If you think you might be owed a refund on an LTN fine you were charged for in one of the six unlawful LTNs, between March 2024 and March 2026, this is the link to the council’s refund form: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/parking/croydon-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-ltns-penalty-refund-request
According to the newspaper, “Croydon’s records included £324 paid to CDER Group, an enforcement company, on March 6 2023, for a ‘REDACTED – Outstanding PCN’, and £240 paid to TfL on April 4 2023, under the description ‘parking fines’.
“A further £100 was paid to UK Car Park Management on May 31 2024. The entry, charged to the assistant chief executive’s department, was described as a ‘presiding officer fine’.”
Under £86,000 per year Mayor Perry, Croydon has increased the penalty fines for members of the public who break the rules.
In March this year, Mayor Perry was criticised by a High Court judge for charging fines of up to £160 a time for drivers caught using six roads designated as LTNs – Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – which were ruled to be unlawful because Perry had imposed them as a money-making exercise, not for genuine environmental or traffic-calming reasons. The council is slowly, and a tad reluctantly, now having to make refunds of £7million collected in unlawful LTN fines.
When contacted by the Torygraph, a member of the Croydon propaganda team said: “We take our budget responsibilities seriously.”
Croydon Council has debts of £1.7billion, and has needed government bail-outs to balance its budgets in each of the last six years.
Read more: High Court judge orders end to Croydon’s ‘unlawful’ LTNs
Read more: Perry dodges scrutiny as council delays refunds of LTN fines
Read more: Perry’s council to face Judicial Review over Access Croydon
Read more: Council failed to include High Court LTN case on risk register
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