THE top 10 most lucrative locations for parking fines in Warrington have been revealed, netting more than £200,000 for the council.

A Freedom of Information request, submitted by the Warrington Guardian, discovered that during the financial year 2011 to 2012, the council raked in £214,575 from parking fines at the sites across Warrington.

The Forge car park in Stockton Heath was named as the highest earner for the council, netting £55,193.

It was revealed that 2,175 parking tickets were issued at the car park on West Avenue during a one year period - almost triple the amount of tickets handed out in the second most popular location for parking fines.

This was closely followed by Cairo Street, where 762 motorists were slapped with parking fines, costing £24,001 and Palmyra Square North with 674 parking fines, costing £19,820.

Warrington Borough Council is one of 359 authorities that run parking operations in the UK, pocketing £565m between them in the financial year 2012 to 2012.

A council spokesman said: “The Forge car park is one of the busiest in Warrington with a very high turnover of vehicles.

“Less than two per cent of the vehicles parked there in 2011 to 2012 were issued with penalty charge notices.

The latest figures come as anger continues to mount over the council’s plans to deal with parking in Warrington.

Commenting on the most recent developments to introduce a 30p charge for parking in Lymm and Stockton Heath, Warrington South MP David Mowat said he had received more than 100 complaints about the issue.

And the town’s Liberal Democrats have collected more than 5,000 signatures on a petition against the charges at the Forge and Pepper Street in Lymm.

Mr Mowat said: “Many say they will no longer shop there in future.”

“The council needs to do an immediate impact analysis in both villages to understand whether trading is suffering, because if it is, the charges will need to be removed immediately.

“After all, there will be no car park revenue if there are no shops for people to go to.”

The key aim of the council’s adopted parking strategy is to bring parking services to a breakeven position which is one of the reasons behind the new charges.

Warrington Borough Council’s executive board member for highways and transportation, Clr Linda Dirir said it was ‘unfair to claim that Warrington is making money from car parking’.

Clr Dirir said: “The BBC published a national survey to answer the question ‘Who's making the most out of parking?’ “The BBC survey of 359 English councils revealed that some [councils] are generating huge cash surpluses from parking charges.

“But in the BBC’s table, Warrington is 12th from the bottom.”

Location - Number issued - Income
The Forge car park 2,175 £55,193.
Cairo Street 762 £24,001.
Palmyra Square North 674 £19,820.
Radnor Street 641 £24,756.
Sankey Street 639 £21,005.
Town Hall P&D 618 £13,301.
Pepper Street P&D 574 £15,004.
Bewsey Street 454 £14,850.
Springfield Street 421 £12,760.
Barbauld Street 364 £13,885.