Councils rake in £39,000 every day with parking fines

‘Using tickets to boost coffers’

DRIVERS were hit with nearly half a million parking tickets from Scots councils last year as wardens stepped up their war on motorists.

A total of £14.3million was collected in penalties in 2018 – the equivalent of £39,178 every day.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued increased by nearly 30,000 from the previous year, council figures show.

Motorists paid £400,000 more in fines last year from the £13.9million paid in 2017 – a rise of 2.9 per cent. Overall, wardens issued 463,530 tickets in 2018 – up 7 per cent from the 433,703 handed out in 2017.

But the true figure is likely to be much higher, as only 29 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities released figures.

City of Edinburgh Council was among those which did not respond, but previous figures from the authority show transport chiefs made £5.6million from fines in 2017.

The increase in fines comes despite Scots successfully overturning council parking penalties at a rate of 50 a day in 2017-18, according to local authority figures published last month.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, said: ‘The ideal parking system is one where no penalty tickets are issued.

‘This would mean signposting and markings are clear, the information for drivers is simple and tariffs are self-explanatory.

‘The millions of pounds raised by penalty charges are taking money from the high street. With shops and restaurants closing daily, councils should treat parking as a service, not a revenue source.’

Glasgow City Council wardens handed out 237,604 fines last year – 10,000 more than in 2017 – worth £7.8million. Aberdeen City Council issued 38,500 tickets last year, bringing in more than £1million. This was down from 42,500 fines in 2017, which made £1.3million.

Falkirk Council issued only 618 penalty notices, generating £4,100 from motorists, while drivers on Orkney racked up fines worth £22,800 from 1,268 tickets last year – a rise of nearly £5,000 from 2017.

Tory Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said: ‘This is a staggering number of tickets to hand out in a year. Councils have to be wary about merely using these fines as a way of boosting their coffers.’

The figures were released by insurance comparison website Confused.com following a Freedom of Information request.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: ‘Our parking attendants only ever issue penalty charge notices when they consider an offence has been committed.

‘Parking restrictions, and the ability to enforce those restrictions, exist to ensure traffic can move as freely as possible and to protect the safety of road users.’

Across the UK, councils earned more than £326million from penalty charge notices (PCNs) in 2018.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: ‘Challenging an unfair fine can be complicated and daunting.

‘The appeal process is confusing and needs to be clearer. With councils raking in over £326million in PCNs, it’s only right some of this money is invested to make road signs clearer, to eliminate the number of fines distributed.’