Reading's top 10 roads for parking fines revealed
Last year the council handed out more than 53,000 parking tickets
The top 10 roads in Reading where drivers have been hit with parking fines has been revealed.
Every year, Reading Borough Council releases figures for how many parking fines were issued over 12 months as part of its annual parking services report.
The latest report covers the April 2021-April 2022 financial year, with statistics showing a soar in the amount of fines issued compared to 2020/21 – at the peak of the pandemic.
Reading Borough Council issued a total of 53,550 fines in 2021/22.
Of those 48,355 were paid, as 5,195 were cancelled.
The fines are issued via penalty charge notices (PCNs) which cost £70 or £50 depending on the seriousness of the breach, and can be paid at a discount of £35 or £25 within 14 days of issue.
Statistics show 2,470 of PCNs were cancelled after a formal or informal appeal, and 2,725 were written off for other reasons.
The number of fines issued has soared compared to the previous year, with 34,541 PCNs in 2020/21 rising by 19,009 to 53,550 in 2021/22.
The council’s parking services team also revealed where each parking fine was issued, with the majority of fines being dished out in town centre roads.
A whopping 8,219 fines were issued in Oxford Road, with over 5,000 fines being issued in Friar Street, Sackville Street, Vachel Road and Zinzan Street – all of which are located in the town centre.
The Top 10
Oxford Road – 8,219
Friar Street – 1,826
Sackville Street – 1,585
Wokingham Road – 1,527
Kings Road – 1,172
Vachel Road – 1,174
Zinzan Street – 1,132
Cheapside – 867
Castle Street – 686
The Forbury – 482
Despite the number of fines paid, the council still spent more funds enforcing parking rules then it made in income.
Enforcing parking rules cost the council £1.734 million but raised it £1.675 million leading to a net cost of £59,782.
However, that’s substantially less than the amount spent on enforcing parking rules during the pandemic, when the council ending up with a surplus cost of £1.100 million.