New data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that the number of fines issued by each traffic warden every year varies dramatically according to where you live.
London motorists are hardest hit, with wardens there dishing out up to 8,709 tickets each a year. But outside the capital, Liverpool is the worst place for overzealous attendants: they issued 2,616 tickets each in the city last year, with a grand total of 146,503 in 2011.
In the Hertfordshire city of St Albans, meanwhile, ticketing rates jumped from 563 for each warden in 2010 to 2,458 in 2011.
By comparison, motorists in Inverness have the least productive wardens in the UK. Highland Council figures reveal that each attendant wrote out only 139 tickets last year.
AA president Edmund King told Auto Express: “Some of this boils down to vast differences in traffic flow, but some of it reflects the incentives and philosophy of the parking regime in question. There’s no doubt some [ticketing] is more about revenue, and not about reducing traffic flow.”
Almost 1.8 million disputed fines were recorded in 2011, but insurer swiftcover.com reveals the number of tickets cancelled varied from 11 per cent in the city of Bradford, W Yorks, to 72 per cent in Chichester, West Sussex.
Five UK councils outside London issuing the most tickets per warden
| Local authority |
Parking tickets per warden |
| Liverpool City Council |
2,616 |
| St Albans City and District Council, Herts |
2,458 |
| Coventry City Council, West Midlands |
2,220 |
| Worcester City Council, West Midlands |
2,125 |
| Oxford City Council |
2,037 |
Five UK councils outside London issuing the least tickets per warden
| Local authority |
Parking tickets per warden |
| Highland Council, Inverness |
139 |
| Lancaster City Council |
189 |
| Sunderland City Council, Tyne and Wear |
296 |
| City of Ely Council, Cambridgeshire |
495 |
| Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands |
580 |
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"There’s no doubt some [ticketing] is more about revenue, and not about reducing traffic flow.” -Edmund King should know that proper traffic wardens are about increasing traffic flow, not reducing it.