Cardiff council makes £4.5m from fining motorists

Drivers in Cardiff have been fined more than £4.5m for parking and motoring offences in the last year.

The city council said it had earned £4.72m between April 2016 and April 2017.

The RAC Foundation warned money being made from fines should not be seen as "a mark of success".

But the local authority stressed provisional figures showed it made just £390,325 profit, as the majority of the money went on enforcement costs.

According to the council, the average amount of money made in each quarter was £1.2m.

It received the most income between October and December 2016, a total of £1.4m.

A spokesman from the RAC Foundation said: "Councils shouldn't regard large sums of money being made from fines as a mark of success but possibly a symptom of things going wrong.

"Are the rules imposed on drivers fair and transparent? Why are so many motorists finding themselves on the wrong side of the law?

"It is hard to believe that people entering the city are purposefully setting out to wrack up big fines."

Matthew Wakelam, the council's head of infrastructure and operations, who manages the scheme, said the costs to deliver services were "often overlooked".

"These provisional figures - which will be audited - clearly show that the net financial gain for the last year is well under half a million pounds," he said.

"We ask all road users to abide by the Highway Code so we can keep Cardiff moving, reduce congestion and further improve public transport infrastructure across the city."