More fines were issued for bad parking in Swindon in 2018 than the year before.

But the money received by the Borough Council went down.

In 2017 officers working for Euclid Street issued 23,360 penalty charge notices for illegal parking or violating bus lanes, and realised an income for the council of £730,000.

The number of tickets rose slightly in 2018 to 23,690, but the money raised went down to £678,000, according to research by comparison website confused.com.

That contrasts with Wiltshire Council where the number of PCNs issued rose sharply from 24,000 in 2017 to 30,704 last year. That saw the council’s income increase from £705,000 to £866,000.

But both councils figure way down on the league tables of public authorities which are raking in cash from fines, according to the insurance comparison site.

In total last year more than nine million tickets were issued raising £326m for cash-strapped councils.

Manchester City Council issued the most tickets, followed by four London boroughs, Westminster, City of London, Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham.

The five councils made the most money, with Westminster taking the lion share £16.5m of £67m received from issuing 1.6m PCN fines.

Swindon Borough Council says that all money it receives from parking fines is spent on the roads in the borough, in particular in improving cycling and public transport provision.