Ken Livingstone calls for London-wide plan for parking following Barnet Council problems

Mr Livingstone, Labour’s Mayoral candidate for next year’s elections, said he would like to see a set of guidelines brought in to add consistency for motorists.

He made the comments when asked his opinions on Barnet Council’s parking policies, which have seen a 150 per cent increase in parking permits and a hike in pay-and-display charges to cover a hole in the parking revenue account.

Councillor Brian Coleman has also outlined his plans to make Barnet a cashless parking borough, with pay-by-phone technology instead of parking meters.

He told the Times Series: “The Mayor can propose a London-wide deal and it should be simplified. When people arrive in a new borough they have to work out what they need to do to pay.

“There should be a policy for outer-London and inner- London as they are clearly different.

“In Westminster I have seen traffic wardens standing there waiting for the coaches coming in to drop off tourists coming to see West End shows. We should be encouraging people to come to London, not making it harder for them.

“Given the state of our economy we should be encouraging local shops, not discouraging people from visiting them with these parking regimes.”

He also blasted Tory councils like Barnet’s for trying to raise funds by issuing tickets , rather than discourage unlawful parking.

He added: “If you actually look at TfL and the bus routes and red routes we made sure people were fined if they were blocking them , we never used the system to raise money.

“It’s to make sure people are safe on the roads and to help traffic flow, not to be used as a stealth tax as it is becoming.

“Tory Councils are saying they kept council tax down, but they are increasing charges which is increasing the costs for residents still.

“Barnet has put up their parking visitor’s vouchers to £4 from £1 each after people have used their free booklet. I live in neighbouring Brent and they’re 50p each. How can that be right?”