Luton Borough Council raised around £600k in parking fines revenue for 2022

Luton Borough Council issued an average of 161 parking fines a day in 2022, generating an average of £1,646 revenue per day – which equates to around £600k a year.

That’s according to new analysis by Churchill Motor Insurance which has issued a list of the UK’s top 20 councils which issued the most parking fines last year.

Luton Borough Council is in 19th place overall – and in 9th place of local authorities (outside London) issuing the most Penalty Charge Notices in 2022.

In total the Churchill report states councils typically issued 19,631 parking fines per day last year.

This represents a 12 per cent increase from 2021 when local authorities issued an average of 17,500 parking fines per day. The volume of tickets issues has surged since 2020, with the daily average up over a third (36 per cent).

The substantial increase in the number of parking fines has increased revenues for local authorities by an estimated £777,287 each day in 2022. This is £35,113 more than councils received each day in 2021 and £182,869 more than the daily average in 2020. A parking fine can be up to £70 outside of London, or up to £130 in London. However, the penalty is typically halved if a driver pays within 14 days.

A spokesman for Luton Borough Council said: “Our Parking Enforcement teams perform an essential role to keep our roads clear and prevent congestion, deal with inconsiderate and dangerous parking and to respond to complaints from local people about illegal parking causing nuisance or even threats to the safety of other road users.

“In addition to enforcing restrictions and parking hotspots across the road network seven days per week we respond to in excess of 300 requests per month from residents who are experiencing parking issues in their local area such as blocked driveways, misuse of disabled parking facilities or other inconsiderate parking. We allocate considerable resources to ensure that we can use the parking enforcement powers available to us for the benefit of our residents and responsible road users.”

The average local authority issued 85 fines per day costing drivers £3,486 in 2022. However, some London boroughs issued 10 times more fines than the national average. The ten councils estimated to have issued the most parking fines in the UK are all in Greater London. Islington issued the most fines of any local authority in 2022, over the period analysed, with an average of more than 1,000 per day.

Lambeth and Waltham Forest issued the second and third most fines respectively. Outside London, Birmingham, Southampton, and Cardiff issued the most parking fines.

Nicholas Mantel, head of Churchill motor insurance, said: “Motorists across Britain are regularly being caught out by increased and sometimes complicated parking restrictions. We would encourage drivers to always check parking signs carefully to ensure they avoid any expensive fines. If motorists do receive a parking fine, they have 28 days to pay it or appeal to an independent tribunal."