SKY-ROCKETING parking profits have been revealed by the RAC Foundation, with boroughs in England projecting increases of up to 262 per cent this year.
Northampton is budgeted to raise £1.9m from parking in 2018/19, which is up from £500,000 last financial year.
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Meanwhile, the UK capital’s Westminster council is set to make an incredible £78.7 million
As a comparison, second-highest grossing London borough Kensington and Chelsea only expects to raise £35.7 million.
London’s Congestion Charge is due to profit from £168 million this financial year, which doesn’t include money made from the new T-Charge toxic emissions daily fee.
Despite an increase in Congestion Charge’s penalty from £130 to £160 in January, the projected income is still down from last year’s £210 million.
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Out of the rest of England, Brighton and Hove is budgeted to profit from £21 million from parking, with Birmingham following up on £12.3 million.
English bus lane penalties will bring in £35 million, but this figure is likely to be considerably higher than that, as the RAC Foundation revealed 2016/17’s projection was £6 million while the actual profit was £19 million.
Greater London is set to account for the majority of the fines, raising £24 million.
Moving traffic penalties in the capital generate more than double that made by bus lane penalties.
The news comes as the biggest private parking firm ParkingEye is sold for £235 million. The company bought a third of all car owner details sold by the DVLA in order to issue parking fines.
Steve Gooding, RAC Foundation Director, said: “This deal will confirm the suspicion that many motorists already had: that managing parking on private land is a licence to print money.
“The increase in the value of the company matches the relentless rise in the number of vehicle keeper records the DVLA has been providing to private parking companies so that they can issue parking tickets.”
