Drivers punished with expensive parking costs and Ulez fees as councils rake in millions of pounds

Among the worst places to park for drivers includes Westminster, which raised £75milion a year through parking fines and expensive permits.

This is £20million more than Kensington and Chelsea, which earned closer to £52million a year on similar punishing measures.

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Unsurprisingly the most expensive authorities for parking and subsequent Ulez fines are in London with Camden making £44million last year in parking fees, followed by Hammersmith and Fulham (£39million), and Islington (£38million).

Meanwhile, analysis of parking fees, vehicle traffic volume, fuel prices and the availability of EV charging points found that drivers in Essex had the busiest roads in England.

Traffic volumes in this region reached 9,410 million miles in 2022, with Hampshire having a traffic volume of 9,232 million miles and Kent with 9,165 million miles.

Sitting in traffic became even more expensive for drivers in Essex who are now subject to the Ulez fines, when it was expanded in August last year.

Experts highlighted Surrey as the worst place to own a car, with the county ranking in the top five highway authorities for congestion with a traffic volume of 8,290 million miles.

Rory Brimmer, director of business development at Turo UK, which commissioned the research, explained that due to the high costs of owning a car, many drivers are turning away from ownership altogether.

He said: “Tens of thousands of drivers across the UK have swapped car ownership for car sharing to avoid regular costs and hassles of things like monthly insurance and finding regular parking.”

Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire ranked low on having vehicle traffic volumes due to their “car-free” zones, although Cambridgeshire brought in £7million through parking fees in 2019-2020.

Andy Yao, a local resident in Oxford, added: "Oxford city centre is not as car friendly as it used to be due to the council's decision to implement low traffic neighbourhoods for pedestrians.

“Having a car is useful at certain times, but not always, hence why I use car sharing with Turo."

Parking prices have been steadily increasing across the UK since 2022. The average cost of daytime parking for a council car park was roughly £1.15 in 2022, but has since gone up to £1.23 in 2023 and £1.29 in 2024.

Hourly evening parking charged by council-operated car parks in the UK also jumped from £1.00 to £1.22 between 2022 and 2024, an increase of 22 per cent.

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Last year, research showed that UK councils issued 46,662 parking fines on average with four London boroughs being named in the top five.