Parking fines: the £328 million council cash cow
Many taxpayers perceive parking enforcement as a money spinning scheme and the right of councils to retain the proceeds from parking enforcement is a major source of friction between councils and the public. A research note released this week by the TPA and the Drivers' Alliance provides, for the first time, the amount collected by all UK councils, to produce a national estimate of the amount raised in parking fines.
Our report found that for the 99 percent of Councils who responded to our Freedom of Information requests, a total of £328 million for on street parking and off street parking fines was received in the year 2008-09, this is a 16 per cent decrease from total parking fines in 2007-08, which was £379 million. The UK and English council that charged the most in fines relative to their daytime population is Kensington and Chelsea, with an average of £85 per person in 2008-09. The average income per daytime population for English councils was £6.14 in 2008-09.
The council that charged the most in fines relative to their daytime population in Scotland is Edinburgh and in Wales is Denbighshire. In Northern Ireland the average amount of fines compared to daytime population was £3.50 per person in 2008-09. Of the top ten councils with the highest level of ‘fines per daytime population’, six were rated as 4 star councils by the Audit Commission, permitting them to spend a surplus in any way they wished.
To read the full report including information on every local authority, please click here
The report received blanket media coverage at both national and local level, with hits including:
Daily Express: PARKING FINES COST DRIVERS £330M
The Sun: Motorists stung by £328m parking fines
Daily Mail: Councils using drivers as 'cash cows' to milk £330m a year from parking fines
Daily Mirror: CAR PARK CASH COW
Daily Telegraph: Motorists hit with £328 million in parking fines as councils cash in
The Scotsman: Motorists are 'milked' for £900,000 of parking fines every day
Scottish Daily Express: CAPITAL IS RAKING IN PARKING FINE CASH
BBC News Online: Edinburgh parking fines reach almost £7m
London Evening Standard: £200m in parking penalties paid by capital’s motorists
Ipswich Evening Star: Parking fees bonanza for authorities
Heart 103.3: Aylesbury Vale Car Parking Fines
Norwich Evening News: Thousands made through parking fines
Aberdeen Press and Journal: Crusaders accuse councils of using drivers as ‘cash cows’
Bradford Telegraph & Argus: Parking fines ‘are just a cash cow'
Liverpool Daily Post: Motorists are 'cash cows' for councils
Western Mail: Councils using motorists as 'cash cows' despite drop in fines
Yorkshire Post: Drivers 'used as cash cows' to cough up £300m in parking fines
Sheffield Star: £2.5m from parking fines
Lancashire Evening Post: Parking ticket revenue drops in Lancashire
Bucks Free Press: South Buckinghamshire councils got £600k from parking tickets last year
Express and Star: Parking fines pulling in £6.4m
Barnet & Potters Bar Times: Barnet has largest increase in parking fines
Sunderland Echo: Newcastle drivers get four times more parking tickets than Sunderland drivers
Lancashire Telegraph: Sharp fall in East Lancashire parking fines
Wirral Globe: Reduction in Wirral parking fines while UK drivers stump up a staggering £328m
Edinburgh Evening News: Parking tickets net city £6.9m in year
News & Star: £1m in parking fines across north and west Cumbria
Lancaster Guardian: Parking ticket revenue drops in Lancashire
Newcastle Evening Chronicle: Councils Are Driving Up Car Cash Profits
Haringey Independent: Drivers in Haringey hit with £57 parking fine each day
Richmond and Twickenham Times: Hounslow and Richmond councils rake in £9m in parking fines
24Dash.com: Councils accused of using motorists as 'cash cows'
Admiral.com: Motorists pay out £328 million in parking fines
LBC.co.uk: Council Parking Charges Revealed
NewsBlaze.com: Councils Raise Parking Fines While Parking Industry Resists Rises says Park Let
ChoiceQuote.co.uk: Liverpool parking fines on the increase
Essex Echo: More parking tickets issued in Southend than the rest of south Essex combined
Burton Mail: £500,000 PARKING FINES
Bournemouth Daily Echo: Poole Council DIDN'T make nearly £5m from parking fines
Southend Standard: More parking tickets issued in Southend than the rest of south Essex combined
Coventry Evening Telegraph: Parking fines help bring in millions
East Anglian Daily Times: Parking fees bonanza for authorities
Southern Daily Echo: Hampshire motorists pay £5.6m a year in fines
Cornish Guardian: Truro drivers pay an 'unfair' price for reckless parking
Coventry Telegraph: Drivers pay £2m in parking fines
North Tyneside News Guardian: Parking penalties rake in £400,000
AutoIndustry.co.uk: Councils Raise Parking Fines While Parking Industry Resists Rises
4RFV.co.uk: £7m In Parking Fines
Webfinanser (Sweden): Councils Raise Parking Fines While Parking Industry Resists Rises
FleetNews.co.uk: RAC Foundation calls on councils for better parking plans
EarthTimes.org: Councils Raise Parking Fines While Parking Industry Resists Rises
DebtFixers.com: Parking fines to increase consumer debt?
BuzziBuzz.com (France): Councils Raise Parking Fines While Parking Industry Resists Rises
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions: Fleet solutions professionals may welcome vehicle parking initiative
Kidderminster Shuttle: Wyre Forest council takes £281,478 in parking fines
Liverpool Echo: Merseyside car fines top £8m
Scunthorpe Telegraph: Fines reduction is just the ticket
Hounslow Chronicle: Parking fine income causes anger
Liverpool Daily Post: Mersey motorists pay out £8.4m in parking fines
Climate scientists caught trying to undermine Freedom of Information
There's been a lot of controversy this week over the leaking of a large number of emails and documents from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU). Much of the debate has been raging over the leak's implications for the science of climate change, which is an area the TPA does not get involved in. However, one aspect of the revelations very much does fall within our remit - the CRU's senior staff appear to have been actively colluding to break and undermine the Freedom of Information Act. As well as repeatedly expressing their contempt for FoI, and helpfully detailing their efforts to overturn the opinions of the University's own FoI officers, the Director of the CRU apparently orders his staff to delete emails that are the targets of an FoI request. This is potentially a criminal offence, and we are reporting the CRU and the staff involved to the Information Commissioner and the Police. Read more, including the details of the offending emails, here 
Activist blog request
The TPA blog has been booming in popularity, with over 470,000 unique visits so far this year. As regular visitors to the site will know, it is all about putting the opinions of taxpayers across on a national platform. We'd like you to contribute to that with guest blog pieces on examples of taxpayers' money being wasted in your area. Some TPA supporters, such as Peter Webb of South West Surrey TPA, already contribute regular pieces - would you be interested in doing the same? If so, please submit articles of between 200 and 800 words to fiona.mcevoy@taxpayersalliance.com . Even if nothing springs to mind today, feel free to send in blog posts in future if and when a scandal occurs where you are. Good stories might even make it into your local media! We can't guarantee we'll be able to publish every submission, but we'd be delighted to receive your contributions and get some more grassroots voices on the blog.
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