Local Authority

Council ticket appeals statistics and parking accounts information

Tickets issued

2023-24

Councils in London issued 8,333,486 Penalty Charge Notices
- Of those, only 0.51% were brought to appeal, and of these appeals, 40.3% were upheld.

2022-23

Councils in England, excluding London, issued 5,031,516 Penalty Charge Notices.
- Of those, 0.14% were brought to appeal, and of those, 28.3% were upheld.
Councils in London issued 7,599,875 Penalty Charge Notices
- Of those, 0.58% were brought to appeal, and of those appeals, 33.8% were upheld.
In Wales, 310,351 PCNs were issued.
- Of these PCNs, 0.20% were brought to appeal, and of those, 25.3% were upheld.

Local authority parking accounts

Fewer than one in five councils (19.7%) make a surplus income from parking enforcement, according to a 2014 report from leading local government think-tank, the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU).

The report also found that around half only managed to cover their costs from enforcement income and nearly a third (29.6%) made a loss.

Based on responses from 71 councils, the 'Councils in the driving seat' report suggests that ‘rather than needing to be constrained or required to report back to the MHCLG, local authorities in fact need to be emboldened and empowered to carry out their statutory requirements around traffic regulation and enforcement.’

Legislation

The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 includes provisions to control the use of parking surplus generated and these are set out in s55. The essence of the legislation says income from all penalty charges (whether issued for on-street or off-street contraventions) plus any income from on-street parking fees and charges is subject to s55 usage; income from off-street parking fees and charges is for general use by the local authority.