Calling in all snitches: This is your chance to sell out your fellow drivers for a pay-off.
i-Ticket, a brand new app created by parking firm UK Car Park Management, will allow users to take a picture of an illegally-parked car on their private land, with the number plate in shot, and submit the evidence to issue a parking ticket.
Your reward? Well, for snitching on a misbehaving driver, you’ll receive a generous £10. Not bad, ey? It’s probably even enough to help you forget the fact that you’ve just sold your soul to a company of parking wardens.
After the picture has been reviewed by the authorities, you get your commission, and the driver in question is issued a fine for £60. Should they fail to pay that fee within 14 days, it climbs up to a whopping £100 total. Yikes!
Of course, the creators of i-Ticket have been quick to quash any fleeting ethical concerns we may have about it. “The problem is not with the app but with drivers that do not respect people’s land,” CPM boss James Randall recently told The Mirror.
“The photo uploaded to the app is just the evidence and everyone is looked at by a member of staff before a ticket is printed.” So, if they don’t do the crime, they won’t get a massive fine, right?
Still, something feels a little off about letting the parking authorities know when a driver is behaving, even if it’s on private property. “This is wrong on so many levels it beggars belief,” explained spokesman Simon Williams. “The sharp practices of parking companies are already regularly called into question with paid officials dishing out fines, but with members of the public being financially encouraged to shop motorists who overstay, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
He went on to explain how this civilian-snooping could also lead to social problems if misused, “This will cause total chaos by undermining trust still further and may even lead to public order offences between drivers and members of the public looking to earn a quick £10.”