Britain now has more parking wardens than full-time soldiers – with fines and charges hitting £2.3billion a year, figures have shown.
Nationwide, there are estimated to be about 82,000 traffic enforcement officers patrolling Britain’s streets, the British Parking Association said.
This surpasses the number of regular soldiers in the British Army, which has diminished in recent years, with the latest statistics indicating there are approximately 73,490 full-time troops.
Despite recent funding cuts impacting the UK’s military, councils seem to be generating substantial profits from their growing numbers of parking wardens.
Profits nationwide have jumped from £961million two years ago to about £1.1billion in the most recent year.
Overall, data reveals that revenue from drivers for parking permits, tickets, and fines has increased by about 20 percent in two years, as councils raise fees to address budget deficits.
Official statistics also demonstrate that over the past year, councils in England garnered a remarkable £1.4 billion from on-street parking charges and £876 million from council-operated car parks.
When broken down, this equates to an average of £70 per year per car on the road in the UK for parking charges – though the actual amount is likely higher since fines are solely for England.
There are now more traffic wardens nationwide than full-time members of the British Army
The figures also exclude revenue from congestion charging, clean air zones, and fines for cars entering bus lanes – adding an additional £1 billion to the total revenue.
London councils took the lion’s share of parking income nationwide receiving revenues of £1.065billion – with Kensington and Chelsea alone making £49million a year from on-street parking.
Manchester raked in £19million while Brighton took in £33million.
The statistics come amid recent inflation-busting rises in parking charges and fines, which are due to councils looking to increase their revenues in the face of increased spending pressures.
Earlier this year, London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, green-lit an increase in parking fines to a maximum of £160 — up from the previous high of £130. Last year, London councils issued about 8.3 million penalty charge notices.
Councils nationwide have been upping the cost of residential parking permits for households, adding to the revenues generated by authorities.
London’s Bexley council, for instance, raised the cost of a 12-month parking permit by 23 per cent to £160. While Camden council now adds an additional ‘air quality surcharge’ on its permits, which can cost as much as £195 a year for diesel vehicles.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said parking had become a cash cow for councils and was now effectively a tax on driving.
‘Making £1.2billion in profit, from an income haul of £2.3billion, out of people’s pockets and potential consumer spending is where we are now with so many English city and town councils and their unrestrained costs and fines,’ he said.
It’s believed there are around 82,000 traffic wardens operating nationwide, compared to 73,490 regular soldiers in the British Army
‘Originally, council parking charges were supposed to cover the cost of controlled and ordered provision. The benefits were to encourage shoppers and other visitors into town and city centres and stimulate commercial activity.
‘On-street charges might encourage turnover of spaces and permits were supposed to protect residents’ parking from hogging by outsiders.
‘Charges were supposed to cover the cost of providing and enforcing this parking, with some profit from fines and reward for successful parking and commercial policies. Anything above that is tax.’
Mr Cousens added that for ‘too many’ councils, particularly in cities, the cost of parking seems to have gone from a ‘reasonable charge to a full-on local tax’.
‘Why? Because there is next to nothing holding them back,’ he added. ‘They create new ways and reasons to plunder more money from people with cars, often on low incomes travelling in for work.
‘Residents feel hostage to permit costs so high that households often rip up their front gardens and turn them into parking.’
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘Council parking has become big business and for some local authorities it is very lucrative.
‘Many drivers will rightly feel that they are paying more through tolls and charges to use their cars, and paying more through parking charges and residents’ permits to leave them stationary.
‘Drivers feeling the pinch from public parking charges should take a close look at how their local authority justifies them – the money raised is supposed to be spent on improving local transport, not bale out other budgets.’
Meanwhile, the British Parking Association, which represents operators, said charges and claims of excessive profits were ‘misleading’ and failed to recognise how funds were ‘managed and reinvested’ into the community.
‘Income from parking often makes possible some of the most valued services councils provide, such as subsidised bus fares, school transport, pothole repairs, and essential road maintenance,’ he said.
‘Without this income, many of these vital services would be under threat.’
