Motorists across Brighton and Hove are being slapped with a parking fine every five minutes.

Recent figures show that 13 tickets an hour are being issued to rogue drivers caught out for not obeying the rules.

With offences including leaving cars too far away from the kerb, parking in designated police bays, blocking cycle lanes and simply not paying, Brighton and Hove City Council revealed more than 114,000 fines were issued in 2012/13 – boosting its coffers by £4.4 million and contributing to an overall parking profit of £11 million.

The local authority defended the practice adding that all the money raised went back into transport projects, such as paying for concessionary bus fares for older people and installing new cycle lanes.

Transport bosses added the number of tickets – a drop from 116,000 in 2011/12 – showed that more people were understanding the rules.

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But Steve Percy, of motoring lobby group People’s Parking Protest and a member of the city’s transport partnership, said: “I’m not sure it’s about understanding, I think more people are just paying for their stay.

“I think there are a lot of chancers out there who can’t afford to take chances any more.

“The poor old motorist seems to get hit on with everything yet we seem to be the only ones supporting it with all these fines and permits.”

Pete West, chairman of the council’s environment committee, said: “The number of parking Penalty Charge Notices issued in Brighton and Hove decreased slightly this year from 116,000 to 114,000.

“This is the second lowest number of Penalty Charge Notices issued in the city since 2001 and shows that there is a high level of understanding and compliance with the parking regulations amongst residents and visitors.”

Of those issued by the city’s 72 civil enforcement officers, the majority (111,163) were for on street offences while 3,169 were issued to those leaving their vehicles in car parks.

The majority – 34,720 – were issued to people parking in a bay without clearly displaying a ticket or valid permit.

This was down from 36,420 in 2011/12.

Others to get hit included 458 parking more than 50cm away from the edge of the carriageway while 18 were caught re-parking in the same area an hour after leaving.

A further 3,274 were caught parking in designated disabled bays while nine got hit with a £70 fine for parking in a marked police bay.

Records show 48 got fined for parking in an electric vehicles' charging place during restricted hours without charging while 140 were caught leaving their vehicles in a cycle lane.

The £4.4 million raised through fines exceeded the £3.5 million the local authority pays NSL to enforce restrictions across the city.

In addition to the income from parking permits and charges, the local authority made nearly £11 million profit in 2012/13.

A council spokeswoman said its civil enforcement officers did not and had never received rewards for issuing fines.