Almost 20,000 parking fines were issued every day by UK councils last year, with one local authority handing out more than one thousand every 24 hours and the penalties putting nearly £780,000 into councils’ coffers.
Councils issued an average of 19,631 fines each day in 2022, according to data obtained by Churchill Motor Insurance, up 12% on the year before.
Islington Council topped the charts, issuing a daily average of 1,012 fines to motorists in North London, more than any other authority.
8.6m parking fines handed out by private firms in a year
The figures are based on 230 councils’ responses to Freedom Of Information requests.
Overall revenues from penalty charge notices (PCNs) rose by more than £35,000 to around £777,287.
PCNs, or parking fines, can generate anywhere between £70 each outside London to £130 in the capital, but are normally halved if paid within 14 days.
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The fines, often wrapped in yellow plastic packaging familiar to millions of motorists, are issued when they park somewhere they are restricted from doing so, such as on double yellow lines or on single yellow lines at a prohibited time.
And it’s not just councils, as nearly 30,000 parking fines were issued by private companies in Britain every day between April and June last year, up 50% from the same period in 2021, PA said recently.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said drivers faced the risk of parking fines “whichever way they turn.”
Mr Gooding said: “Between the 20,000 tickets issued by councils daily and the 30,000 dished out by private parking companies, motorists are seemingly facing a positive flurry of fines and charges – around one every two seconds.”
He questioned whether so many were necessary during the cost of living crisis and at a time when high streets are trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, or if “over-enthusiastic parking enforcement” is a factor.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, who represent councils in England and Wales, said the money raised by on-street parking charges and parking fines was spent on running parking services.
“Any surplus,” he said, goes on “essential transport projects, including fixing the £11bn road repairs backlog, reducing congestion, tackling poor air quality and supporting local bus services.”
Birmingham City Council (373), Southampton City Council (313) and Cardiff Council (279) issued the most parking fines outside London.
Nicholas Mantel, head of Churchill Motor Insurance, said: “Motorists across Britain are regularly being caught out by increased and sometimes complicated parking restrictions.
“We would encourage drivers to always check parking signs carefully to ensure they avoid any expensive fines.
