WORST STREETS FOR DRIVERS REVEALED

Browning Road, London is officially the worst street for driving fines, with over 67,000 PCNs issued last year

***LOCAL FOI FIGURES AVAILABLE***

●       Last year, the most prolific streets for driving fines in each council collected a total of more than £19.5m in fines from drivers

●       £3.3 million was collected on one street alone in the East London Borough of Newham

●       Outside of London, Manchester’s Stockport Road is the worst street for catching drivers, with   more than 5,000 fines issued in 2021

●       More than 2 in 5 (42%) drivers believe that parking fines are too expensive. And more than a third (34%) feel that parking costs should be reduced amid the rising cost of living

●       Confused.com’s parking challenge checklist outlines some of the information drivers might need to decide whether to appeal a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) that they believe has been issued unfairly

Browning Road in Newham, London is revealed to be the worst street for driving fines, new data reveals.

That’s according to new Freedom of Information data obtained by Confused.com, which exposes the streets where drivers are most likely to be hit with fines.

The request asked councils which single street in their authority area dished out the most fines during the 2020/21 financial year. Drivers could be issued a penalty charge notice (PCN) for various reasons, including parking offences, straying into bus lanes or blocking a yellow box junction.

The data reveals a staggering £19.5 million was collected by councils for offences committed on the top 103 streets over the 12 month period. And £3.3 million of this was collected on the worst offending street in the East London Borough of Newham alone. Over the period, Browning Road saw 67,557 tickets issued, resulting in millions of pounds in fines paid by drivers. In fact, the data also shows that the top 5 streets where councils collected the most in PCN fines each cashed in more than £1 million last year. This includes Dermody Road, Lansdowne Drive and Cornhill.

While the data found that many of the highest-yielding streets were in London, there are significant roads outside the capital responsible for hitting drivers with tickets. Outside of the capital, Stockport Road in Manchester hauled in more than £193,000. Other big earners outside of London were found in Derby, Stoke, Blackburn, Southend, Bristol and Slough.

The streets responsible for the most fines in the 2020/21 financial year:

MOST EXPENSIVE STREETS IN LONDON FOR PENALTY CHARGE NOTICES ISSUED TO DRIVERS *                        

Council	Street	Amount	Number of tickets
Newham	Browning Road	£3,316,255	67,557
Lewisham	Dermody Road	£2,956,171	48,223
Hackney	Lansdowne Drive	£2,826,415	47,783
City of London	Cornhill	£1,831,270	30,943
Tower Hamlets	Wapping High Street	£1,061,068	18,681
Barking & Dagenham	Station Parade	£937,764	15,152
Havering	Tangent Link	£846,892	11,319
Harrow	Charlton Road / D’Arcy Avenue	£655,201	12,415
Camden	Southampton Row	£599,597	8,740
Wandsworth	Putney High Street	£538,655	8,751

MOST EXPENSIVE STREETS OUTSIDE LONDON FOR PENALTY CHARGE NOTICES ISSUED TO DRIVERS

Council	Street	Amount	Number of tickets
Manchester	Stockport Road	£193,893	5,258
Blackburn	Copy Nook	£94,856	1,773
Oldham	A62 Oldham Road	£86,613	3,180
Derby	Phoenix Street	£81,927	2,466
Plymouth	New George Street	£79,710	1,281
Stoke	Stafford Street, Hanley	£75,037	2,009
Southend	London Road	£64,448	2,177
Slough	High Street	£60,195	3,494
Bristol	Gloucester Road	£47,187	1,305
Sheffield	Ecclesall Road	£44,994	1,062

Through further research conducted by Confused.com, more than a third (34%) of drivers said that councils make too much money from penalising drivers through PCNs. For the 1 in 2 (50%) drivers who said that they had received a PCN, the average amount paid in penalties was £72. But drivers aren’t always opposed to paying for PCNs they’ve been issued. Over half  of drivers (53%) told Confused.com that they believe anything between £11-£40 is a reasonable price to pay as a consequence.

It’s clear from the research it’s not uncommon for drivers to be hit with penalty charges. When it comes to the top reasons drivers have been penalised, more 1in 3(34%) cited a parking offence as the reason. This is followed by driving in a bus lane (14%) and stopping in a box junction (8%).

As living costs continue to rise, drivers receiving PCNs will undoubtedly feel the pinch of the additional motoring costs. Over 2 in 5 (42%) believe that parking fines are too expensive and more than 1 in 3 (34%) feel that parking costs, more generally, should be reduced amid the rising costs of living.

And it could be that part of the problem is the lack of parking spaces. Over 2 in 5 (42%) said that there isn’t enough parking in their local city centre. This has meant that 2 in 5 (41%) of those who have received a parking fine received their ticket in a city centre. And almost 1 in 3 (31%) drivers also said that there aren’t enough parking spaces available on their local high street.

And it seems it’s not uncommon for drivers to feel unfairly punished by PCNs, with more than half (52%) of motorists who received a PCN for a parking offence claiming they appealed it. However, data shows that more than 7 in 10 (73%) of appeals made were successful, with drivers either paying a reduced price or nothing at all. The top reasons for driver’s to appeal were because they felt the ticket was unfair (40%), or that the signage was confusing and unclear (28%). On signage, a third (33%) of drivers feel that councils should spend more money making road signs clearer to avoid future issues.

The process of appealing a PCN can be a little confusing. In fact, only 6% of drivers said they think their local council has an easy process to appeal a fine. Confused.com has compiled a checklist which outlines some of the information drivers might need to decide if and how to challenge an unfair PCN. With living costs on the rise and fuel prices skyrocketing, any advice to help drivers avoid additional costs will undoubtedly be needed.

Alex Kindred, Car Insurance Expert at Confused.com, comments: “Just like many of our motoring bills, the cost of penalty charge notices (PCNs) is an extra strain on the pockets of drivers.

“A third (33%) of drivers believe that councils should spend more money on making road signs clearer, so that drivers don’t have to fork out for unfair fines in the first place. In turn, this would make roads safer, drivers less confused, and help to reduce the cost of driving.

“Our research found that more than half (52%) of motorists who received a PCN for a parking offence have appealed it. But only a small number of drivers (6%) feel that their local council has an easy process to appeal a PCN fine.

“If you’ve received a PCN fine, you might be able to challenge the decision if you think it was unfair. The process may vary depending on your local authority, so it’s important to check this before doing so. If you wish to challenge your fine, you should do so within 28 days. Our checklist offers further guidance on what to expect from the process and the type of evidence you may need in order to support your appeal.”