Navigating London as a driver can be a nightmare.
We have all been there – slapping our foreheads in horror when we realise the car is stuck in a bus lane, or when the warden points out the ‘no parking’ sign.
But some roads are much trickier than others and local authorities are cashing in millions of pounds from traffic and parking offences.
Metro.co.uk can now reveal where in the capital people are most likely to get hit in the pocket with fines after Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all councils.
Browning Road in Newham tops the list for most traffic offences, with the east London council charging an average of £17,368 in fines every day – or £723 an hour.
There were 40,616 offences recorded on the busy road between January and October this year and the council is expected to collect over £5.2 million from drivers.
The road is part of the Browning Road Bridge area scheme put in place in 2019 following complaints from residents about the high number of cars travelling through the area.
Now, it is restricted to buses, emergency services, cyclists, black taxis and locals.
But a council spokesperson pointed out it is not just doom and gloom, and in fact, the changes have even improved the air quality in the borough.
They said: ‘Newham has the worst air quality in England. However, following the introduction of the measures, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in the immediate area has reduced by 40%.’
‘Since the camera enforcement scheme was introduced, average speeds have reduced from 20.4mph to 19.3mph.’
From the boroughs which answered the FOI requests, City of London comes next with 22,241 traffic fines amounting to over £1.4 million
It is followed by Havering with 10,129 fines, costing £1.3 million and Harrow with 9,977 fines, totalling nearly £1.3 million.
The data also revealed that Westminster reached the top of the list for parking offences income.
While parking does not appear as lucrative as traffic, the borough racks up an average of £1,886 a day from busting drivers on Queensway Street, Bayswater, west London.
This tallies up to the whopping £573,610 through 4,487 fines, on average.
High Street North, Newham, and Kew Green in Richmond come next as some of the most expensive streets for parking tickets.
With nearly 2,500 tickets issued on each of them, the two councils have collected more than half a million in 10 months.
Shaf Jade, of Azolvur, which helps fight unfair parking tickets, pointed out that not many people are aware that councils are raking in millions of pounds every year from these fines.
The expert added: ‘Councils are generating money by not issuing parking fines, but relying on the fact that people won’t appeal those parking fines.
‘The data published on the London council’s website suggests only 0.6% of parking tickets were appealed in 2020 to 2021.
‘Councils have automated systems in place where they keep on sending tickets and rely upon the fact that people won’t contest it because they are not aware of the appeal process.
‘Also, in today’s hectic life people find the whole process is daunting, so they prefer to pay off rather than to contest.’
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