Parking tickets total on the rise
Councils handed out an increased number of parking tickets last year despite cutting back on traffic wardens, according to figures out today.
Councils handed out an increased number of parking tickets last year despite cutting back on traffic wardens, according to figures out today.
There was a total of 6.8million tickets issued in 2011 – one every 4.6 seconds.
Money raised totalled more than £234million, according to the figures obtained by insurance company swiftcover.com following a Freedom of Information request.
The firm sent requests to every city and found that Wolverhampton City Council gave out 18,547 in 2011 – a drop of just under 1,500 on the previous year.
Nationally the number of wardens or civil enforcement officers (CEOs) fell from 3,882 in 2010 to 3,693 in 2011 and in Wolverhampton from 34 to 32.
Outside London, the largest number of fines handed out last year was by Liverpool City Council, which issued more than 146,000.
Birmingham City Council gave out nearly 133,000.
Robin Reames, chief claims officer at swiftcover.com, said: "Shortage of parking has become a huge issue in towns and cities across the UK in the past five to 10 years.
"However, this doesn't excuse illegal parking."