Wardens who missed targets claimed they were penalised by not being allocated overtime or having holiday leave refused. It had been implied that if numbers fell too sharply they could lose their jobs also. Both councils said the number of tickets being issued in falling. However figures released by car insurance company LV have shown that motorists are being stung by almost 900,000 parking fines a month at a cost of 30 million pounds a 4 percent increase on the previous year.
And the tickets issued on Sundays have increased by 13 per cent with nearly 3000,000 tickets issued on that day of the week in the first five months of 2013. The AA have said some traffic wardens had even targeted church-goers and choristers. Today, it was revealed that a man had been hit with a 70 pounds parking fine after pulling over for just seven seconds to drop off his elderly mother-in-law. Ian Hardman, 58, fell foul of a council-run spy car in Bolton when he stopped in an empty taxi rank to let 82 year old Audrey Harrison out.Local shopkeepers near the layby in Knowsley Street said the council's camera car, which films from inside a small Toyota IQ car and has been labelled a cash cow by critics, has been located at the layby for weeks trying to catch out motorists. However, a Bolton Council spokesman defended the spy vehicle, saying drivers who stopped in the layby were preventing taxis from parking and picking up a fare.