Fewer traffic wardens – but tickets every five seconds

A freedom of information request has revealed that a total of 6.8 million parking tickets were issued in 2011 – one every 4.6 seconds.

They raised a total of £234m for local councils.

The tickets were handed out despite a decline in the numer of traffic wardens working across local authority areas, from 3,882 in 2010 to 3,693 in 2011.

Insurance company, swiftcover.com, obtained the numbers through the FOI request.

They found that one in four tickets was disputed, but only a third of those who appealed were successful.

Outside London, motorists in Liverpool were most likely to be fined. There, 146,000 fines were handed out. In Manchester City council, more than 138,000 fines were given, and in Birmingham, nearly 133,000.

But the figures revealed that success in disputing tickets varied across councils, from as little as 11 per cent in the city of Brdford, to 72 per cent in Chichester, West Sussex.

A total of 36 per cent of Manchester motorists who disputed a ticket were successful, while 41 per cent of challenges were upheld in Birmingham.

Robin Reames, chief claims officer at swiftcover.com, said: “Shortage of parking has become a huge issue in towns and cities across the UK in the past five to 10 years. However, this doesn’t excuse illegal parking.”