Westminster Tops Parking Fines Table

14 April 2014, 11:40 | Updated: 14 April 2014, 11:47

Westminster Council has issued parking fines at a rate of one a minute over the last year.

455,390 were handed out in total, worth more than £24 million.

According to research by Churchill Car Insurance, local authorities issued around 7.8 million parking penalty charge notices  in 2013, amounting to £255 million in fines.

The top 13 locations were all London boroughs. Outside London, Cardiff council issued the highest number of parking fines at 56,766 and North Somerset generated the most revenue at £2.25 million.

The highest number of appeals was in Haringey in north London, where 21,617, or 13 % were successfully challenged.

Steve Barrett, head of Churchill Car Insurance, said: "Parking regulations are a hugely important part of keeping roads safe and clear, but it's also essential that fines are fair and proportionate. In many areas, parking restrictions can be confusing and appear inconsistent, so we'd urge motorists to be vigilant when parking their vehicles to avoid hefty fines.

"The capital is extremely congested so we'd expect to see a higher number of restrictions in place and penalties being issued. However, there is a fine line between fair and opportunistic that councils shouldn't be tempted to cross." 

Leith Penny, Westminster City Council’s Strategic Director of City Management:

“It is inevitable that where there are most cars, there is most demand for parking. Nearly 600,000 vehicles enter Central London everyday but Westminster can only provide 41,000 on-street parking spaces. Nonetheless, if you look at the trend over time, we are reducing the number of tickets we issue; in the last year we have given out half the number of tickets we did 10 years ago.

Furthermore, Westminster City Council is always looking to make parking safer, easier and fairer. In a matter of weeks, we will introduce parking sensors to help drivers find a parking space. Later this year, traffic marshals will take the place of wardens with a brief to help motorists and, having reduced the number of fixed CCTV cameras from 179 to 50 last year, we are conducting another review to see if they’re the best – and fairest - way to manage parking. Put simply, when it comes to parking - not all local authorities are the same.”