Edinburgh parking fines reach almost £7m


More than £328m was collected in parking fines across the UK last year

Almost £7m in parking fines were collected in Edinburgh last year - the highest of any city in the UK apart from London, a report has claimed. The Taxpayers' Alliance study said the figure for the Scottish capital was £1.4m higher than in the much larger city of Glasgow.
The campaign group said the figures were the equivalent of £11 in fines per head of population in Edinburgh.
The city council said it only penalised motorists who were illegally parked.
Every local authority in the UK was asked by the Taxpayers' Alliance to provide details of how much money it collected through parking enforcement regulations in the year 2008-09.

The £6.91m collected by City of Edinburgh Council - which also provides parking enforcement in Midlothian - represented a £170,000 rise on the previous year, the study said.
The results showed that Edinburgh collected far more than Birmingham (£4.1m), Manchester (£4.5m) and the whole of Northern Ireland, where a total of £4.1m in parking penalties was collected last year.
The Taxpayers' Alliance said a total of £328m was collected by the local authorities who responded to its request.
It claimed the figures showed parking fines had become a "massive cash cow" for local authorities, who are allowed to keep any money they collect.
Peter Roberts, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Parking enforcement has become a massive money-making industry and we are seeing unscrupulous and target-driven enforcement of parking laws where the penalties far outweigh the offence.
"This report shows that some local authorities are treating drivers unfairly and cashing in on parking fines."
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, convener of Edinburgh's transport committee, said parking attendants "perform a key role in maintaining safe, steady traffic flow throughout the city, whilst ensuring a good turnover of parking spaces."
He said tickets were only issued to vehicles parked in contravention of the parking regulations.