Leicestershire's parking enforcement running at a loss

Leicestershire's parking enforcement services are running at a loss, according to the county council.

The authority said it expected to make a loss of about £280,000 for the period between April this year and March 2012.

It would be the largest shortfall since the council took over parking enforcement from the police in July 2007, a spokesman confirmed.

A reduction in the number of fines being issued has been blamed on the predicted deficit.

Profit forecast

The council said consultants who set up its enforcement operation predicted it would lose money in the first two years due to set-up and running costs, but had forecast that by now the authority should be making a profit from ticket income.

Leicestershire County Council's traffic and safety manager Greg Payne said: "The basic reason that we've got a deficit at the moment is the reduced number of fines that are being issued through the county.

"They are a lot lower than were originally planned.

"The main point of the parking enforcement is to stop people parking inappropriately in the county.

"What we've got to look at is the scale of the operation in the county now and that is what we are currently doing."