Leeds City Council nets more than £10m in car park charges and fines

Data analysed by Leeds-based airport parking price comparison company Looking4.com also reveals Leeds and Edinburgh offer the UK’s joint second cheapest rate for an hour’s parking at just 50p.

More than 20 councils in the UK’s largest cities were asked to reveal their cheapest rates for an hour’s parking – with Belfast and Newcastle offering the lowest at just 20p, and London topping the tables at £4.80.

Figures obtained in a series of freedom of information requests from Leeds City Council show the local authority received £8,878,000 from parking charges last year and £1.95m from drivers’ parking fines

Leeds has 11,302 paid parking spaces and 3,031 free parking spaces.

It costs just 50p an hour to park in the cheapest council-run car parks including Woodhouse Carr, Argyle Road and Bath Road. The most expensive car parks in Leeds at £2.60 an hour include Castle Street, Park Sqaure East, Bradford Lane and Call Lane.

Coun Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for regeneration, transport and planning said: “Demand for parking spaces in Leeds is high, and we review our prices every year to ensure we continue to be competitive in comparison with private providers in the city.

“Parking provision and pricing plays an important role in our traffic management approach, and we are committed to supporting the growth of the Leeds economy through diversity and inclusivity in terms of everyone being able to access our city centre.

“It is pleasing to see we come out offering amongst the best value in terms of cost per hour in this list, especially in comparison with the other core cities.”

Martin Mansell, managing director at Looking4.com, said: “Drivers deserve to know how their city stacks up against other council charges across the UK.

“Seeing the data broken down like this, we hope to educate drivers and encourage them to do some research before forking out for over-the-top parking charges.”

“We’ve also created an interactive map to help them avoid paying extortionate prices and hope to shed some light on what options they have.” Go to : www.looking4.com/uk/blog/the-true-cost-of-parking