A TOP LEVEL inquiry has been ordered into Wirral's parking fines controversy following last week's Globe report that motorists have been hit to the tune of more than £1.2m since the local authority took control of operations.

Wirral Tory leader Cllr Jeff Green claimed that the squeeze on the motoring public had been a deliberate act by the Labour group.

Cllr Green, the council's cabinet member for trans-port, said: "They had a line in their budget which said they wanted to raise £500,000 from this pro-cedure. It was a deliberate policy."

But council leader Cllr Steve Foulkes challenged Cllr Green to identfy other means of raising £500,000.

He said: "We said the scheme had to be self-financing and not be a burden on council tax payers. No-one has anything to fear if they park properly and safely."

Outraged disabled motor-ists say they have been hard hit by the new ticketing regime.

Wirral Disabled Motorists Club - a charity set up for disabled motorists - has slammed the council's new policy, claiming that the peninsula's most vulnerable people had been unduly targeted.

Cllr Green said he was prepared to sit down and talk to members of the club as a matter of urgency to discuss their grievances.

He said: "I want to look at the situation to see exactly what is going on and what we can do about it.

My main concern is the way the budget was structured in effect instructing officers to go out and raise income from this procedure."

In the last six months more than 1,600 parking fines have been rescinded because drivers have had blue badges signifying their disability.

But Karen Jones believes that many disabled drivers may have paid fines to avoid the stress of comp-laining. Monty Hughes, 85, from Higher Bebington told the Globe he was one such motorist.

He revealed: "I went to the barber a couple of weeks ago and parked outside the shop and put up my disabled badge and disc. When I got outside I had a ticket. I was going to refuse to pay but, because I am disabled, I didn't want to go down to Birkenhead and fill in the forms. I've paid now but I will refuse the next time." Karen added: "I have even heard of cases where people have got a ticket for having the badge in the centre of the dashboard rather than at the side closest to the kerb. With age some of our members find it more difficult to follow instructions on how to display their blue badges."

A spokesman for Wirral council said the local authority was pleased with the progress of the decriminalised parking enforcement in the peninsula since it was introduced last November.

He said: "The principle of the new system is not about profit-making or issuing as many tickets as possible.

"Instead it is intended to bring about a reduction in the number of motorists who park dangerously on Wirral's roads. We must not lose sight of the fact that this is about stopping people who have previously been breaking the law and we hope Wirral residents welcome and support the new system."