H&F Council Earned Over £13 Million from Traffic Fines in 2018

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Britain's second highest earner issued 239,000 Penalty Charge Notices

Scene from TfL video on avoiding yellow box junction fines

Westminster Council made more cash - a huge £16.5 million - than any other local authority from handing out penalty charge notices, or PCNs, during 2018.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council was not far behind, according to new figures, taking in over £13 million to become Britain's second biggest earner from PCNs.

These fines are typically handed out for failing to display a parking ticket, breaking some traffic rules – for example going against a 'no right turn' sign, or driving in a bus lane and not paying the charge for the London congestion zone or low emission zone on time.

Westminster earned the cash from 313,000 separate fines handed out last year. Only Manchester Council, which issued 598,000 fines, managed to beat Westminster and earn the accolade of Britain’s biggest issuer of fines. despite raising less money.

H&F Council dished out an astonishing 239,000 fines over the year, while the City of London Corporation, which runs the Square Mile, was the third highest earner, giving out 280,000 fines, and earning £12 million.

H&F's neighbour Kensington and Chelsea Council, home to the wealthiest people in the country, bagged £9.8 million last year from 196,000 fines.

However, the new data showed that West London councils issued fewer fines in 2018 than 2017. Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham were all down, though while Westminster fell by by 4.4%, and Kensington and Chelsea by 2.9% our borough showed only a tiny drop of 0.1%.

London councils pay for road maintenance using money they raise themselves unlike councils in the rest of the country which are given funding by central Government.

Westminster Council’s deputy leader Tim Mitchell, said: "With over a million daily visitors and many of the country’s biggest attractions it would be a surprise if Westminster wasn’t at the top of the list. 

"All of the money we raise through parking is reinvested in transport schemes including green schemes like our diesel surcharge – which has led to a 16 per cent reduction in older diesel vehicles entering the city."

A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson said: "Parking fines are one part of our toolkit to make sure drivers respect parking rules and avoid causing disruption.

"We are transparent in the way cash generated by fines is fed back into transport-related services and support for our residents."

Hammersmith and Fulham Council was unable to respond in time for publication.

The data came from nationwide research using Freedom of Information requests by Confused.com, which found that a total of £326 million was raised from fines issued by UK councils in 2018.

However, its research also found that nearly three quarters of all appeals made against fines are successful.

Amanda Stretton of Confused.com said the research suggests more people should challenge fines, many of which arise from problems such as unclear signage.

She added: "With councils raking in over £326 million in PCNs, it’s only right that some of this fine money is invested to help make road signs clearer to eliminate the number of fines being distributed unfairly."

Transport for London has issued information on driving in London here and tips on avoiding box junctions, which can be found here along with a YouTube video.

Written with contributions from Owen Sheppard, Local Democracy Reporter

July 19, 2019