Postcode lottery over car park charges

Drivers in London predictably face the highest charges, but Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh are also expensive, Which? found.

The cost of parking on the street varied from £4.40 an hour in London’s West End and £2.60 in Leeds and Birmingham, to free in Coventry.

Variations were also highlighted across the region where street parking for an hour was found to cost £1.30 in Hull, against 70p in Bradford and £1.60 in Sheffield.

But the variation is even more pronounced when it comes to council-run car parks, the study found.

In London’s Soho these cost £18 for four hours, followed by Manchester at £13.20 for the same period.

The cheapest city surveyed was Bradford, which charged £3.50 for four hours, while in Hull the same four hours cost £4.10 , and £6 in Sheffield.

Edinburgh was the only city in the study not to offer any council-run car parks. Prices in its privately-run car parks were high at up to £2.50 for an hour or £8.90 for four hours.

And it was a “similarly muddled picture” when it came to parking tickets, Which? said.

More than eight million parking tickets are issued every year in the UK, with nearly half of those from local authorities in London.

London’s Westminster handed out more tickets than any other council in the survey but more than 19,000 people (87 per cent) won their appeal against the fine in 2008-2009, suggesting a large number of tickets were not issued correctly, the study claimed.

Which? advised drivers to check on parking charges before a journey.