DRIVERS who fall foul of Positive Parking in High Wycombe will have to pay more in fines from next month.

Fines are going up to £60 though if people pay within 14 days the figure will be £30. Previously it was £40 and £20.

Buckinghamshire County Council, which is responsible for on-street parking in the town, announced the increase on June 11, three days after the elections in which the Conservatives were returned to power at County Hall.

The notice from the Home Office, in effect telling them to increase fines, arrived at County Hall on May 4.

Mike McCabe, director of communications for the county council, said the Home Office notice had not been expected until after the general election.

He said it had taken council officers from when it did arrive until now to gear up and plan the changes.

And Graham Spenceley, traffic manager for the county, said when the notice arrived the county council was in pre-election mode and press notices would not be issued.

Deputy council leader Bill Chapple told the Free Press that no council anywhere, or government, would have made this kind of announcement in the run-up to an election

High Wycombe is a Special Parking Area (SPA), which means that on street parking is run by the county council using a private enforcement agency and that overstaying the limit is no longer a criminal offence.

The county council says there are no plans to put parking charges up in the SPA and that the increases, which are only paid by people who break the rules, should help to hold charges at their present level.

The outcry over increased charges in off-street car parks in the Wycombe area has led Wycombe District Council's cabinet to order a review.