BUSY parking wardens issued their highest number of tickets in six years in Brighton and Hove in the last financial year.

More than 122,000 were slapped on car windscreens between April 2014 and the end of March this year – the most since the first council annual parking report in 2008/9.

It means a ticket is issued every four minutes in the city and 336 each day - an increase of more than four per cent on the year before.

Campaigners said the rise is due to more drivers gambling on getting tickets as they are so frustrated with parking charges.

Steve Percy, of the People’s Parking Protest, said: “If you have a more restricted traffic flow around the city, people become more frustrated and might take a chance to achieve what they need to do.

“If people can’t find somewhere to park, or haven’t got the means to pay for it, or if it becomes more difficult to pay for tickets, then people are going to take their chances.

“If people need just to pull up for ten minutes to pay for cigarettes, then who wants to pay £3.50 for just ten minutes?”

In total parking fines, charges and permits and blue badges raised £16.7 million for the authority in 2014/15.

However the number of tickets are described as being at “historically low levels” when compared to the 170,000 tickets that were once issued around the city.

Council officers said the rise in tickets from last year shown in the latest annual parking report was due to an increase in parking zones around the city although motoring campaigners said it was caused by frustrated drivers at the end of their tether taking a risk or two rather than pay parking charges.

Despite the increase, the city will only feel a small financial benefit from the increase with on-street parking income actually dropping by almost £2 million and the parking surplus falling by £2.3 million.

This is despite a £2.3 million drop in costs including reduced spend on enforcement and appeals with the significant loss of £1.2 million in on-street parking income after the council’s contractor for providing cash collection, Coin Co International, entered administration. This was a major contributor to the drop.

The council saw a very small rise in the net income from its own council car parks of less than £5,000 - rising to £2.28 million.

As well as the number of drivers cursing getting tickets being on the rise, the number of people waiting for parking permits is also on the rise, according to the report.

It shows Brunswick is the most difficult area to get a ticket.

Overall, the number of people on the waiting list fell from 1,260 in 2010/11 by over 65% to 394 in 2013-14.

We have observed a reversal of this trend in 2014-15 with the number of residents waiting for a permit increasing to 506.

Council officers point to an increase in the population density in these areas as possible reasons behind the rise.

The report shows that there were 26 successful prosecutions and for blue badge fraud, with 59 warning letters to drivers where no action was taken.

And the number of tickets issued for driving in bus lanes rose to 5,542 from 4,676 the year before.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “The reduced surplus in the report reflects the fact we have put aside a more realistic sum to cover unpaid or cancelled tickets – either tickets being cancelled as part of our being fair, or those we simply couldn’t chase down, despite our best efforts.

“About half the drop is explained by the company which collects cash going into administration, as previously reported.

“The increase in the number of tickets reflects the expansion of controlled parking schemes at the request of residents themselves.”