In 2013, motorists in England paid a combined total of £1.4 billion in parking charges, according to new figures from the government.

Car owners paid £160,000 every hour to town halls for a myriad of charges, including parking permits, fines and pay-and-display tickets. The sum includes £343 million in parking tickets. 

According to the new figures, when the costs of parking services are added up, taking into account the £165 million paid to civil enforcement officers to administer schemes, town halls made a record profit of £546 million.

The government figures only include fines and charges applied to council car parks, so the cost of privately run car parks is not incorporated into the total stated in the report.

Eric Pickles, communities secretary for the coalition, had previously advised local authorities to not treat motorists as sources of revenue, advice which some commentators believe has been ignored.

In 2013, the sum made through parking charges and fines reached £1.409 billion, marking a rise of 1.5 per cent on the £1.389 billion accrued last year in England.  

According to the figures, Westminster Council collected the most, reaching £81 million last year, putting it leaps and bounds ahead of its closest rival. 

The rest of the top ten for London are Kensington & Chelsea (£47.1 million) Camden (£38.8 million) Hammersmith & Fulham (£34.7 million) Wandsworth (£29.6 million) Islington (£25.7 million) Lambeth (£24.7 million) Ealing (£18.9 million); Hackney (£18. 6million), and Haringey (£16.3 million).

Outside of England's capital city, Brighton and Hove, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester and Cornwall accumulated the most money in fees and fines.

Councillor Peter Box, transport spokesman at the Local Government Association, told the Mail Online: "These figures prove that councils remain on the side of hard-pressed motorists with parking fines going down and total parking income staying below the rate of inflation over the past 12 months.

"Parking charges and fines are essential to help councils keep traffic flowing and pedestrians and motorists safe. On-street parking revenue is spent on paying for parking services. Any surplus is spent on essential transport projects, such as talking the £12 billion roads repair backlog and providing subsidised travel to elderly and disabled residents."

Are you looking to take the next step in your parking career? Contact Unity Recruitment to get the wheels in motion.