Shropshire traffic wardens collect £1 million in parking fines

Almost 39,000 tickets were handed out across the region – which raked in more than £1.13 million for council coffers, according to figures released in a Freedom of Information request.

Shropshire Council says the money it received from the fines is used to fund the cost of the civil enforcement officers and the processing of the penalty charges. Any surplus is invested to improve the transport network of the county such as improving road safety, investing in public transport, encouraging safe and sensible parking and promoting walking and cycling.

In 2014/15 10,567 parking charge notices or fixed penalty notices were issued on cars parked illegally on and off street across the authority’s area, equating more than 28 tickets a day.

This figure rose to 15,404 in 2016/17 – a leap of 46 per cent. High Street, Bridgnorth, was the most popular with traffic wardens in the three-year period. Motorists received 2,037 tickets between 2014 and 2017.

Cars parked illegally or overstaying their welcome in St Mary’s Place in the heart of Shrewsbury were ticketed 1,454 times in the same period.

Shrewsbury’s High Street, which has limited parking and is mainly loading bays and bus stops came third with 1,082 parking charge notices or fixed penalty notices being issued.

The council’s Castle Street Car Park in Ludlow received 752 tickets between 2014 and 2017 and Church Street in Oswestry had 543 tickets issued.

Of all the tickets issued 2,003 challenges were made in 2014/15. In 2015/16 this rose to 2,345 and in 2016/17 there were 2,899 appeals against the tickets.

According to the council all motorists should observe the parking restrictions when parking their vehicle, for example: double yellow lines, loading bays, disabled bays and residents’ parking bays.

Civil enforcement officers are responsible for undertaking daily enforcement. They are only able to issue penalties to vehicles parked illegally, such as on double yellow lines and in loading bays.