Bolton: Nearly 100 parking tickets are handed out every day

Figures obtained by Churchill Motor Insurance through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show 16,319 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were handed out by the council in the six months to June 2022 – equivalent to 91 each day.

This was a rise from 75 per day across the whole of 2021 – although seasonal variations and coronavirus lockdowns may have contributed.

PCNs are issued when drivers break parking regulations, such as by parking on double yellow lines or on a single yellow line at a prohibited time.

READ MORE: Bolton parking fines bring in over £1m for council

The figures also show that the Council pocketed £463,709 in revenue in the first half of 2022 from penalty charge notices – or £2,576 a day.

Cars parked on Silverwell Street (Image: Newsquest)

This was a rise from £2,310 a day across the whole of 2021.

And based on the FOI data, a total of £2,110,859 has been collected by the Council from parking tickets from the start of 2020 to June 2022.

With high-profile retailers leaving the town centre in recent times, many in the borough feel that improving how parking is managed in the area could increase the number of shoppers and money spent, which could help to halt further high street departures.

The Bolton News recently asked resident how they believed the parking offer in the town centre – the area with the highest concentration of PCNs are dished out in the borough - could be improved.

READ MORE: Bolton town centre parking - visitors have their say

Among the popular ideas was making parking free for a limited time, or allowing for cash payment at machines, as they tend to only accept card payments.

On resident said: “Cheaper parking get shoppers back into town centre.”

Another said: “Repaint all of the parking spaces. Cars have got bigger, but spaces are still at 1960s standard size.”

“Build a massive car park where the old bus station stood and charge a reasonable rate,” another resident added.

The council recently said that it has “no plans to increase the parking offer” as it believes that the current situation is provides plenty of options “with mixture of short stay, long stay, and car park options available, in and surrounding the town centre”.

READ MORE: Premier Bed Store owner wants parking offer improved

They also say that all the money from the fines collected are “reinvested into the provision of the parking services team and the wider highways department” which includes “assisting with maintenance costs of the highways and their associated assets” in the borough.

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at lewis.finney@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @lewisfinney18