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Canterbury City Council Bill [Lords] (By Order)

My right hon. Friend is seeking to be fair-minded, but the point made by our hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury during that Second Reading debate was that these people were proceeding with malice aforethought. They were not innocents who had haplessly done the equivalent of parking in the wrong spot. Nevertheless, given the long-winded process involved, it was not worthwhile to proceed against these rogue traders, for want of a better expression. My hon. Friend went on to say that only after the written warning could proceedings be adopted, and that the penalties were very small. Does he accept that the question of penalties is for the local magistrates court? If the magistrates want to draw attention to an exemplary issue, they have powers in their locality to say, ““This kind of behaviour is such a problem that I am going to deter people by imposing a higher fine, as long as it does not exceed the maximum specified.””