Half of all parking fine appeals are successful

A total of 47 per cent of those who appealed against on-street penalty charge notices (PCNs) in England in 2009/10 had their tickets cancelled or waived.

And 59 per cent who challenged off-street (car park) PCNs were successful, the Department for Transport figures showed.

The figures showed there were 1.84 million challenges to on-street PCNs in 2009/10 compared with 1.86 million in 2008/09.

The success of the challenges meant 860,000 on-street PCNs were cancelled in 2009/10 compared with 870,000 in 2008/09, while 300,000 off-street notices were scrapped compared with 260,000 in 2008/09.

There were an estimated 7.14 million on-street PCNs issued in England in 2009/10 compared with 7.42 million in 2008/09.