Council parking fines rise by 50% in a year

Buckinghamshire Council says the increase is "purely down to the number of contraventions"

The number of parking tickets issued by a council has risen by more than 50% in a year.

Almost 50,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were issued by Buckinghamshire Council in 2023, compared with 31,851 in 2022.

The council raised £1.4m from the fines, according to figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service under the Freedom of Information Act.

The authority denied the parking fines were a so-called cash cow, claiming they were used to combat parking that negatively affected residents and businesses.

The council said income generated by PCNs was invested back into services, including transport, the environment, and parking.

Steven Broadbent, the cabinet member for transport, said: “This is purely down to the number of contraventions and is not something the council controls or that is linked to our budgets.

"We have continued to see traffic levels increase year-on-year which in turn impacts on the number of parking violations that occur.

"We are a very large county area with an extensive road network, high population, high road usage and a number of busy towns so we will naturally see higher numbers of parking violations."