Britain now has more parking wardens than full-time soldiers as fines and charges reach £2.3 billion a year

Britain now has more parking wardens than full-time soldiers, with fines and charges on drivers totaling about £2.3 billion a year, according to official data. The estimate places roughly 82,000 traffic enforcement officers on patrol nationwide, surpassing the British Army’s current headcount of about 73,490 regular troops. The shift comes as cash-strapped local councils have expanded their parking enforcement networks and raised charges to cover budget shortfalls, raising questions about the role of parking in local finance.

Profits nationwide have jumped from £961 million two years ago to about £1.1 billion in the latest year. Revenues from parking permits, tickets and fines have risen about 20 per cent in two years as councils raise charges to cover budget shortfalls. Official data also show that in the last year, councils in England made £1.4 billion from on-street parking and £876 million from council-run car parks. There are now more traffic wardens nationwide than full-time members of the British Army. Broken down, it means that on average, every car on the road in the UK is paying about £70 a year in parking charges, though the true figure is higher because fines cover England alone. The statistics do not include revenue raised from congestion charging, clean air zones, and fines for bus-lane contraventions, which added roughly £1 billion to total parking-related revenue.

London councils took the lion’s share of parking income nationwide, receiving about £1.065 billion. Kensington and Chelsea alone made £49 million a year from on-street parking, while Manchester pulled in £19 million and Brighton £33 million. The statistics come as parking charges and fines have risen amid inflation, with councils looking to widen revenues to cope with increased spending pressures. Earlier this year, London Mayor Sadiq Khan approved a rise in parking fines to a maximum of £160, up from £130. Last year, London councils issued about 8.3 million penalty charge notices. Councils nationwide have also been raising the cost of residential parking permits, contributing to overall revenue gains. For example, London’s Bexley council raised the cost of a 12-month parking permit by 23 per cent to £160, and Camden council now adds an “air quality surcharge” that can push diesel-vehicle permits to as much as £195 a year.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said parking has become a cash cow for councils and is effectively a tax on driving. “Making £1.2 billion in profit, from an income haul of £2.3 billion, out of people’s pockets and potential consumer spending is where we are now with so many English city and town councils and their unrestrained costs and fines,” he said. “There are around 82,000 traffic wardens operating nationwide, compared to 73,490 regular soldiers in the British Army.”

“Originally, council parking charges were supposed to cover the cost of controlled and ordered provision. The benefits were to encourage shoppers and other visitors into town and city centres and stimulate commercial activity. On-street charges might encourage turnover of spaces and permits were supposed to protect residents’ parking from hogging by outsiders. Charges were supposed to cover the cost of providing and enforcing this parking, with some profit from fines and reward for successful parking and commercial policies. Anything above that is tax,” Mr Cousens added, warning that for too many councils, parking costs have shifted from a reasonable charge to a local tax. “Why? Because there is next to nothing holding them back. They create new ways and reasons to plunder more money from people with cars, often on low incomes travelling in for work. Residents feel hostage to permit costs so high that households often rip up their front gardens and turn them into parking.”

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Council parking has become big business and for some local authorities it is very lucrative. Many drivers will rightly feel that they are paying more through tolls and charges to use their cars, and paying more through parking charges and residents’ permits to leave them stationary. Drivers feeling the pinch from public parking charges should take a close look at how their local authority justifies them — the money raised is supposed to be spent on improving local transport, not bailing out other budgets.”

The British Parking Association, which represents operators, said charges and claims of excessive profits were misleading and failed to recognise how funds are managed and reinvested into the community. “Income from parking often makes possible some of the most valued services councils provide, such as subsidised bus fares, school transport, pothole repairs, and essential road maintenance,” the association said. “Without this income, many of these vital services would be under threat.”

The data come as councils defend parking revenue as a legitimate funding stream used to support broader local transport and infrastructure. Advocates argue that permit revenue helps subsidise essential services beyond enforcement, including public transit subsidies and road maintenance, while critics say the system amounts to a regressive tax on drivers, particularly those with lower incomes who rely on car access for work. Local authorities emphasise that fines and charges are intended to regulate use of scarce urban space, ensure turnover in parking bays, and fund transport improvements that support residents and visitors alike.

Looking ahead, observers say attention will focus on how councils balance enforcement with affordability and how revenue from parking is allocated amid ongoing pressures on public budgets. For drivers, the takeaway is to review local parking policies and permit costs, and to monitor any changes in fines that could affect the cost of daily commuting and long-term ownership costs in urban areas.