Newham Council towed around 22 vehicles a day between April and October 2024 according to new report, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Around a quarter of all vehicles towed away in London last year were in Newham, the borough council has said.

A report to Newham councillors said the authority’s vehicle removal service is “the largest in London, with removals accounting for about a quarter of all those undertaken in the capital”.

Michael Benn, the council’s director of highways, parking and transportation, said he was “uncomfortable with the level of removals being carried out” and wanted to reduce them.

A report on the council’s parking strategy showed that it towed around 22 vehicles a day between April and October 2024.

It said that “about half” of all vehicles the council towed in the last two years were cars parked in permit bays without valid permits.

However the report said the council wanted to stop towing these cars “in all but a small number of circumstances” by the end of March next year.

Instead, it said the council should prioritise towing vehicles for “the most severe offences”.

These are for cars with three or more unpaid parking tickets, those with cloned number plates, those with fraudulent disabled badges, dangerous or abandoned vehicles and dangerously parked vehicles.

Councillors on a transport scrutiny committee considered the report at a meeting on Wednesday (24th).

Councillor Sarah Ruiz, responsible for transport, said she and officers had had a “big discussion” about the vehicle removals.

She said: “Nobody wants their car removed and our view was that if you’re in a parking bay that’s not causing any trouble then it shouldn’t be removed.

“Only when a car is actually causing an obstruction or whatever are we going to remove it.”

Benn said that one reason that the number of cars removed in Newham was so much higher than in other boroughs was because other councils “just simply don’t have space for a car pound”.

However Benn said was “uncomfortable with the level of removals being carried out” when he joined the council “just over twelve months ago”.

The figures in the report show the level of removals fell to around 15 a day in June, July and August this year.

Benn said: “We need to be better at making sure we’re using removals where removal is needed and not removing vehicles that in other boroughs would just receive a PCN.”

He said that this also meant “trying to use relocation rather than removal as our default”.

Benn added: “We are moving in that direction because it’s right and fair for residents.”

The report said reducing the numbers of vehicles towed away would have “significant financial implications” for the council.

However it said it is “right to review the proportionality” of removing vehicles, subject to budget discussions.

The report also said the council had cut its number of tow trucks from four to three as the number of daily removals fell, adding that this “has reduced costs”.

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