Tower Hamlets van driver amasses £32,000 of parking fines

A van driver racked up what is thought to be a UK record of £32,000 in unpaid parking fines because their vehicle was "too big" to tow away.

The driver has ignored 246 fixed penalty notices issued on streets around Tower Hamlets, east London, since July 2017.

The van was spotted again last week and finally taken to a pound using a specially-commissioned tow truck.

The council said it would be destroyed if it was not claimed in 35 days.

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesman said the authority had been unable to move the panel van — a white VW Transporter with turbocharged direct injection — whenever it had been spotted previously because it was "too large for removal trucks".

Parking tickets in the borough carry a £130 fine, with a 50% discount if paid within two weeks, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The vehicle has no tax, MOT or insurance and was registered with the DVLA under a fake name.

As a result, Tower Hamlets has already written off 77 of the van's oldest fines, totalling about £10,000, because it has been unable to track the driver down.

The white van "has a history of being parked illegally across the borough, causing significant inconvenience to our residents," according to the council.

A spokesman said it was spotted during "a proactive operation targeting persistent evaders" and "as the owner has repeatedly failed to pay penalty charge notices for past offences, the vehicle was immediately removed".

Conservative opposition councillor Peter Golds said the decision to write off some of the fines was "disgraceful".

The previous biggest total parking fine issued to a single person was £18,500, for a driver in Dundee in 2017.

A DVLA spokesman said implementing and collecting parking fines was the responsibility of the local authority.