Brighton and Hove one of the parking fine hotspots in England

New data shows Brighton had 98,583 fines issued per 100,000 people in a year, which makes it second in England behind Manchester which had 99,583 fines per 100,000 people.

Brighton and Hove's tally is nearly ten times higher than the national average of 9,922 per 100,000 people.

In total 286,280 penalty charge notices were issued in the city. Some 631 appeals were successful out of 878 made in 2021/22, the latest government data available.

Brighton and Hove City Council said this indicated that its traffic wardens applied the rules “fairly and correctly”.

A car with five penalty charge notices in Tisbury Road, Hove (Image: The Argus)

Third on the list was Reading with 76,593 per 100,000 people while fourth was Cambridgeshire with 67,935 per 100,000. Nottingham was fifth with 58,723 per 100,000 people and Bristol was sixth with 56,047 PCNs issued per 100,000 people.

A spokesman for Claims.co.uk said: “The findings from the study on penalty charge notices in the country reveal a diverse picture across regions. There are notable differences in the frequency of these notices, with some areas demonstrating higher incidence than others."

Chairman of the council's transport and sustainability committee Councillor Trevor Muten said: “We do not issue penalty charge notices to people who park legally and respect any local restrictions that may be in place.

• READ MORE: Number of parking fines issued in Brighton this year unveiled in new data

“To some extent these figures reflect the intense demand on parking spaces in our city.

“They are also per resident, and therefore don’t take into account the more than nine million visitors the city welcomes annually – with many traveling by car.

“The fact that less than one in every 400 penalty charge notices handed out is successfully appealed to the parking adjudicator also indicates that our parking enforcement staff apply the rules fairly and correctly.

“Parking enforcement is vital to keeping traffic flowing round the city and ensuring public safety, particularly with regard to emergency vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists.

“Effective enforcement is also vital for shops as they allow more people per day to park near to them to do their shopping.

“Parking income surplus pays for thousands of concessionary bus passes for older and disabled people.

“It also supports bus routes that would otherwise not be commercially viable, and is used for transport schemes that promote safe, active and sustainable travel.”

Crawley Borough Council was 228th out of 257 local authorities listed. It issued 1,097 fines per 100,000 people.

Worthing Borough Council was 163rd with 3,918 fines. Arun District Council was 83rd with 8,729 fines per 100,000. West Sussex County Council was 127th with 5,326 fines per 100,000. Horsham District Council was 166th with 3,398 fines per 100,000.

Hyndburn in Lancashire comes in as the area least likely to be hit with a PCN, seeing just 46 fines issued – working out to a rate of just 56 fines per 100,000 people.