Everything tickety-boo? Parking in Islington brings in fifth-highest revenue UK-wide

By LiseS

Saturday, November 28, 2009, 13:18

Research by the Taxpayers Alliance has revealed that Islington Parking Services collected a total of £10,706,295 in parking fines last financial year. This figure places the council third overall behind Kensington and Chelsea (£12,881,864) and Westminster (a staggering £35,410,000).

Parking in Islington

 

Kensington and Chelsea comes top of the chart for income raised per head of the population through parking fines at £85.29 per head. Westminster, Europe's largest parking authority, came second (£62.46 per head), with Islington in fifth at £55.15, behind Haringey and Newham. The report revealed that UK-wide, the ten highest incomes from parking fines per head of the population all came to authorities in London.

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Drivers' Alliance Policy Analyst Jennifer Dunn said,“For many councils parking fines have become a lucrative source of income. But while revenues are being made at the cost of the motorist, taxpayers haven’t seen their council tax fall, or their local services improve."

Peter Roberts, Chief Executive at the Drivers’ Alliance, added, “Parking enforcement has become a massive money making industry and we are seeing unscrupulous and target driven enforcement of parking laws where the penalties far outweigh the offence.”

"There are more cars than parking spaces on our roads and every council has to try and tackle the problems that this causes," say Islington Parking Services. "We aim to always apply common sense when we enforce parking rules and not issue tickets for trivial offences. In addition to keeping Islington moving, the revenue generated from all parking charges contributes to street-related schemes such as highway improvements and road safety training in school."

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