Over 1,000 parking tickets given on one Surrey street
More than 1,000 parking fines were handed out to drivers in the space of a year on one Surrey street.
Top of the list for the local authorities that held the information was an Elmbridge high street, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the LDRS.
Drivers who parked on Walton High Street were handed a total of 1,084 fines between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021.
Of the 11 borough and district councils in Surrey, only Runnymede Borough Council did not hold information on where parking fines were given out.
Walton High Street has a mix of loading bays, disabled bays for blue badge holders and 30-minute parking spaces.
A council spokesperson said the balance with parking fines was “tricky” to achieve and pointed out there are three council car parks available for visitors to Walton town centre.
The top ten streets for parking fines in Surrey
Walton High Street – 1,084
Church Street East, Woking – 987
A30 London Road Service Road (Surrey Heath) – 975
High Street, Guildford – 845
Croydon Road, Caterham – 835
Chertsey Road (CPZ 1, Woking) – 773
High Street (Surrey Heath) – 772
High Street, Cobham – 726
Church Path, Woking – 615
Quarry Street, Guildford – 603
An Elmbridge Borough Council spokesperson said that parking enforcement along the high street was in place for three reasons including parking on the zig zags at pedestrian crossings, parking in disabled bays without a valid blue badge and parking in loading bays.
They added that restrictions on the high street are applicable 24/7, whereas many other areas have fewer restrictions.
The spokesperson said: “The balance parking restrictions hope to achieve is tricky. Residents want the traffic to flow, businesses need the loading access and they also need their customers to easily access their premises.
“Walton-on-Thames town centre is served by three council car parks, plus other private car parks. Parking on the high street is limited. The road has a loading ban along most of it, double yellow lines, disabled bays and two pedestrian crossings.
“We often find that people tend to illegally park in order to collect food orders from the take away food businesses on the high street and that non-delivery vehicles park in the loading bays.”