Brighton made £21.2m in parking fines this year making it into the top five ‘moneypots’

Brighton and Hove have made it onto the top five Council parking 'money-pots' at £21.2m, closely behind London's hotspots Kensington and Chelsea (£32.1m) and Hammersmith and Fulham (£23.1m). London gained the number one spot on the list with Westminster raising £73.2m.

Parking fines are rapidly on the rise as charges have seen a 10% increase on last year's £744m raised, with English councils raising a record £819m from parking fines, where motorists have failed to buy the correct ticket or parked in unauthorised bays.

The increase in fines is supposedly due to the record number of cars and increased volume of traffic on the roads. Its also been said that the figures are expected to raise major concerns over the level of much needed reinvestment back into Britain's roads.

Asda carpark at Brighton Marina

Apparently, there is a 'silver lining' to the council's financial punishments to motorists, because most councils are using the parking fine money raised to fund local transport projects. It looks like, due to the national £12b road repairs backlog in the UK, councils wont have to look far to find projects to invest their pots of extra cash.

The RAC have said residents should look up their local authorities parking report to see how the money in their area is being spent.

Westminster have created an app which directs drivers to free parking bays. Should Brighton be doing the same to help end this motoring misery?