THE number of parking tickets issued by Argyll and Bute Council wardens has more than doubled within a year, a report has revealed.

The number of parking tickets went from 973 in quarter three of 2021/22 (October-December 2021) to 2,124 in quarter two of 2022/23 (July-September 2022).

A council spokesperson attributed the rise to a new warden taking up work in Bute and Cowal, along with the continued recovery from Covid-19.

The same document also states that cumulative car parking income for the council area over the six months to September 2022 was £491,454 – 78 per cent of the target for the period of £625,429.

However, the report also says that £287,000 of payments remained to be processed, which would take the income over the target for the period.

The area-wide statistics are expected to be considered by the authority’s other three area committees at their meetings later this month, along with local data for each administrative area.

For Bute and Cowal, the number of parking tickets leapt from 266 in quarter one of 2022/23 (April-June 2022) to 517 for the following three months.

But car parking income for the area from April to September was less than a quarter of its target, with £13,203 raised against a goal of nearly £54,000. At least £18,000 has yet to be processed, but that would not make up the entire shortfall.

A spokesperson for the council said of the local information: “Parking charge notices have increased compared to previous years. This is likely due to a combination of the new warden and ongoing recovery from Covid-19.

“In general, it is difficult to ascertain the exact reasons for under-recovery in parking income but it can be affected either way by such things as events, weather, commuting and so on.

“In addition to this, a delay in processing of cash or credit/debit card payments can also be a factor. In regard to this latter point, there is a minimum of £18,000 that has still to be processed within the Bute and Cowal parking income.

“This would still result in an under-recovery but reduces this from £40,701 to circa £22,000.”

In relation to the council-wide parking income information, the spokesperson added: “The service is working through a stock programme which will upgrade all parking terminals to enable multi payment options (cash, cashless and Chip and PIN).

“At this point, 66 terminals out of 92 have been upgraded. The back-office system for the upgraded terminals is excellent and allows forensic review of payment modes.

“For financial quarters one and two combined, the system shows payment totalling £573,000 for the upgraded 66 terminals.

“The remaining cash only income is not shown on this system but may include an additional ‘payment in process’ element (a lag on the income being added to the council’s ledger).

“The cumulative total at financial quarter two is shown as £491,454 against a cumulative target of £625,429; a shortfall of £133,975.

“Even discounting the cash only terminals; there is circa £287,000 still to be processed, which would take the income over the target.”