Video: What you think about council car parking charges

Each year, local council income from parking services raises £1.35bn, statistics obtained by the Co-operative Motor Group under a freedom of information request showed.

The group said that excluding penalty charge notice income, English local authorities raised an extra £184m for parking charges in the years 2008 to 2010 compared with the sum raised in 2007.

Last week, the Yorkshire Post revealed that North Yorkshire County Council made a £717,869 surplus in 2010/2011 from parking meters, permits and penalty charges in Scarborough, which today’s research shows is in the top five councils in the country for hiking up both on-street and off-street parking charges in the past five years – both by more than 30 per cent.

Halifax also featured in the top five for on-street parking, with charges having risen by 25 per cent in the past three years.

The Co-operative Motors general manager Tony Guest, said: “Motorists are seen as a cash cow since the recession and the impact of Government’s spending cuts.

“Our research shows council parking charges have risen dramatically.

“This is a double whammy on motorists because fuel prices have also gone sky high.

“Many people rely on their cars to get to work or to go shopping and these excessive rises are an additional burden on household incomes.

The figures showed that Hull decreased off-street parking charges by 15.8 per cent in the 2008 to 2010 period - one of the best rates in the country.

There was also no on-street parking rise implemented by the council in the city.

Meanwhile, the research found that drivers in Huddersfield were among just a handful in the country to benefit from no off-street and no on-street parking rises over the past few years.