Councils reveal how much they pocket from parking fines
If getting just one parking ticket makes your blood boil – maybe look away now.
New research shows the average UK council issues more than £850,000 in parking fines every year – with the harshest local authority collecting more than a staggering £10 million from parking tickets alone.
These shocking numbers came to light after Compare the Market issued a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to local authorities in August 2020, receiving 204 responses.
High revenues
The investigation uncovered the London Borough of Newham as the parking fine capital of the UK, taking £10.6m from almost a quarter of a million fines over the space of a year.
In fact, the top 10 councils receiving the most from parking fines is largely made up of London boroughs, which collectively took in more than £65 million over the period.
Nine of the 10 local authorities collecting the most money are in Greater London – with each council receiving more than £4 million. Other high-revenue boroughs include Haringey, Ealing, Redbridge, Enfield, Lambeth, Hammersmith & Fulham, Islington, Brent, and Bexley.
The only top 10 council outside of London was the City of Glasgow where, over a 12-month period, 104,938 fines were issued with a total value of almost £5.5 million.
The highest average fines were issued in the London Borough of Haringey with an average of £72.04, followed by Gosport Borough Council (£66.25), and Durham County Council (£57.93).
The data covers the period between August 2019 to July 2020, and so doesn’t fully reflect the effects of reduced traffic due to the pandemic.
Dan Huston, Head of Motor at Compare the Market, said: “Parking fine revenues are a cash cow for many local authorities. Up and down the country drivers are regularly being caught out by tight parking restrictions.
“With the third lockdown now in place, we would encourage drivers to take extra care and attention when parking up their car to ensure they avoid a parking fine.”
Costly roads
In Newham, Browning Road was found to be the spot where the local authority issued the highest number of tickets.
Across the other London boroughs, those parking on High Road N17, Longfield Avenue/New Broadway, Ilford Lane, Montagu Road/Conduit Lane, Acre Lane, Macfarlane Road, St John Street, Kingsbury Road and Bellegrove Road received the highest number of fines.
Wellington Street was Glasgow’s parking ticket hotspot, with Alum Rock Road in Birmingham, Madeira Drive in Brighton, Mount Pleasant Car Park in Liverpool and Dean Street in Newcastle also featuring prominently.
Find out how to stay safe and penalty free in our guide to the motoring laws you need to know about in 2021.
