The councils raking in up to £10m a year in parking fines

Local authorities are making an average of £850,000 a year from parking tickets, with the biggest-earning councils raking in as much as £10 million.

Councils around the country issue an average of 63 parking charges a day but in the busiest authority - London’s Borough of Newham - the figure is 10 times that, with a staggering 239,000 tickets issued a year.

With drivers charged an average of £44.46 per offence, that sees the council earn £10.6m a year, the most of any authority in the UK.

London boroughs dominate the list of councils that make the most from parking charges but outside the capital other authorities are still making as much as £5.5m from motorists caught in the wrong spot.

Outside London, Glasgow makes the most from parking charges. Between August 2019 and July 2020 it issued 104,938 tickets worth £5.48m. Behind it Birmingham (£3.95m) and Brighton and Hove (£2.93m) councils made the most, issuing 112,000 and 106,000 tickets respectively.

10 councils with highest parking charge earnings, excluding London

A Freedom of Information request by ComparetheMarket found that drivers pay an average fine of £37 each time they are caught but that the actual cost of a ticket varies significantly between authorities. Medway Council charges an average of less than £25 but in the London Borough of Haringey the average ticket costs a driver £72. Gosport Borough Council and Durham County Council issued the next highest fines at £66.25, and £57.93 on average respectively.

Dan Hutson, head of motor at comparethemarket.com 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.”

Top 10 London local authorities for parking charges