£1bn profit is raked in on parking fees: Councils are accused of milking 'cash cow' motorists as record annual figure is revealed
Councils were accused of using motorists as ‘cash cows’ last night after raking in a record £1billion in parking charges.
The staggering sum includes the cost of car parks and street permits after some cash-strapped councils raised prices by up to 230 per cent.
It also includes the cash from parking fines issued by armies of traffic wardens working for the more than 350 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales. Department for Transport figures show the profits banked for parking charges in 2018-19 was £996million.
It amounts to £2.7million a day – or £32 a second. The figure is after operating costs were deducted.
Councils were accused of using motorists as ‘cash cows’ last night after raking in a record £1billion in parking charges (stock image)
The sum was up from £929million the year before and £875million the year before that. Just a decade ago, town halls were raking in £250million in parking charges.
The data also reveals the Treasury received a record £7billion in vehicle excise duty (road tax) in 2019. This was up from £6.5billion in 2018.
The amount of cash raised by fuel duty in 2019 remained stable at around £27.8billion even though interest in electric cars is rising.
But despite the sums raised, the amount invested in local roads fell from just over £5.3billion in 2018-19 to £5.28billion in 2019-20. And the amount spent from the pots of money primarily used for road repairs plunged over the five years to 2019-20 from £1.3billion to £655million.
It amounts to £2.7million a day – or £32 a second. The figure is after operating costs were deducted (stock image)
Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign group, said: ‘Cash-strapped local authorities and the Treasury see motorists as the easiest and most reliable of cash cows.... perennially demonised drivers get diddly squat in return.’
David Renard, spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: ‘Income raised through on-street parking charges is spent on running parking services.
‘Any surplus is spent on essential transport projects, including fixing potholes and tackling congestion.’
The DfT pointed to a £27.5billion investment strategy for motorways and major A-roads.