£500m tax on drivers by greedy town halls: Parking charges soar as councils flout law Councils raked in £1.4billion revenue from tickets, permits and penalties Motoring group implores drivers to fight every charge tooth and nail And there are more charges on the way, increasing motorist misery By Ray Massey Motorists were urged yesterday to go to war on councils who use parking fees as a massive moneyspinner. The call came as it was revealed that town halls have boosted their annual profit from such charges to more than £500million, up by 10 per cent in a year. Motoring groups said residents should unleash "a flood of letters" to councils in a campaign to have the legality of the fees tested in court. Only a few days ago judges ruled that it is illegal for local authorities to use parking charges simply to raise revenue, rather than for genuine traffic management. Councils have made more than half a billion pounds from drivers through tickets, permits and penalties. File picture Now a study by the RAC Foundation reveals that councils raked in more than £1.4billion from parking tickets, permits and penalties in 2011-12, of which nearly £565million was pure profit. That is £54million, 10.5 per cent, more than the "surplus" in the previous year. To rub salt into the wounds, even more rises are in the pipeline. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said parking profits are on track to reach £635million in 2013-14. Last week the High Court declared that Barnet Council in North London had acted illegally in setting parking charges for the sole purpose of making profit. The RAC Foundation said councils must now "come clean" about their parking charges and prove to motorists that they are not being used illegally to subsidise other services. Mr Pickles said the figures showed "why we need to review and rein in unfair town hall parking rules" and urged councils to stop treating drivers as a "cash cow" to subsidise other services. RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "Local authorities should now expect a flood of letters from local residents wanting to know how parking charges are justified. If they can't be defended in terms of managing traffic then there is likely to be a steady stream of cases heading for the courts. The RAC Foundation said its data, produced for it by transport consultant David Leibling, came from the annual returns that councils made to Mr Pickles's Department for Communities and Local Government. It shows that in 2011-12, English councils had a total current account surplus or "profit" of £565million from their on-street and off-street parking operations. Just one in seven - 52 of the 359 councils - reported a loss or "deficit" on their parking operations in the year. Even after so-called "capital charges" are taken into account - money councils put in to replace infrastructure - the combined profit was still a hefty £412million. The RAC Foundation said councils must now 'come clean' about their parking charges and prove to motorists that they are not being used illegally to subsidise other services Top of the league table for parking profit is Westminster Council in London, which made a surplus of £41.6million in 2011-12. Next came Kensington and Chelsea with £28.1million, followed by the North London borough of Camden with £25million. Only sixth-placed Brighton and Hove (£14.4million) and eighth-placed Cornwall (£7.9million) broke into a top ten dominated by London authorities. How milking motorists is banned by law Professor Glaister said: "For many local authorities, parking charges are a nice little earner, especially in London. The bottom line is that hundreds of millions of pounds are being contributed annually to council coffers through parking charges. This level of profit will astound drivers. It is also likely to embolden them to take action. Last week Barnet Council was ruled to have illegally set parking charges to shore up its budget and it seems implausible that no other council has been tempted to do the same thing. The onus is on each local authority to come clean and explain why their charges are what they are. We have every sympathy with the financial predicament councils are in. We have no sympathy with any attempt to arbitrarily tax drivers. As the High Court has now judged, this is illegal. Mr Pickles said of his department's parking profit projections for 2013-14: "This £635million municipal parking profit shows why we need to review and rein in unfair town hall parking rules. This Government has scrapped the last administration's Whitehall rules which told councils to hike up parking charges and adopt aggressive parking enforcement. But councils aren't listening, and local shops and hard-working families are suffering as a result. The law is clear that parking is not a tax or cash cow for town hall officers. Earlier this week Mr Pickles said he was considering allowing drivers to park on double yellow lines for 15 minutes if they were making just a short visit to a shop. The landmark test case judgment won by motorists and residents in Barnet was achieved by the Barnet CPZ Action group, led by father of two and solicitor David Attfield, 46, from East Finchley. Councillor Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's economy and transport board, said: "Parking revenue is spent on paying for parking services. Any money left over goes towards transport services like filling potholes, concessionary travel, park and rides, street lights and road improvement projects. Many councils have to subsidise parking services as the cost is not covered by charges. Parking charges and fines help councils keep traffic flowing and pedestrians and motorists safe. They also help keep the roads clear for emergency services and business deliveries, and ensure that people can park near their homes or local shops.