Canterbury is hotspot for parking tickets

words, video and audio by Alex Dodds

People in Canterbury pay more parking penalties a year than anywhere else in Kent.

The city has come top in a parking penalties survey carried out by the Department of Transport with district wardens issuing over 25,000 tickets last year and the local council pocketing more than £730,000.

Canterbury’s ticket total is almost 4,000 tickets ahead than any other district and the total is more than the whole of Dartford and Thanet put together.


The city council do stress that the strict enforcement is not merely a money making scheme, it’s just the rules being followed. Rachel Clements said on Facebook: “They should all go and get a real job, I hear people saying that a lot!”

Talking to the Kentish Gazette, Jennifer Dunn of the Drivers’ Alliance and Tax Payers’ Alliance, said: “For many councils parking fines have become a lucrative source of income. Motorists are being treated like cash cows”.

Parking within the city is limited when the amount of people that reside and visit Canterbury is taken into account. Long stay car parks don’t offer an abundance of spaces with the rest of the spaces dotted around the city being 1-2 hours only.  Elizabeth Perry said on Facebook: “There isn't anywhere in town other than park and ride to park for longer than 5hours they are all short stay and really expensive”.

Melanie Wilson said: “It’s unfair! There should be a three strike system or something”.

Some residents have also branded wardens as “petty”. Grenville Hancox, Director of Music at Canterbury Christ Church University was left stunned when he was fined a £50 parking penalty. He had parked his car in the bay outside his house in Canterbury, however his tyre was 20cm outside the line. Mr Hancox was slapped with a £50 penalty.

Talking to the Kentish Gazette, he said: "This example of over zealous behavior on behalf of the traffic officers does suggest that there is a brief to extract as much money as possible from council tax-paying citizens."

The council said that Mr Hancox was causing an obstruction and affecting access to driveways. To prove the petty nature of his penalty, Mr Hancox took photographs of the scene to prove that he was parked directly outside his house and the only person affected was him. The council was surprisingly lenient with this case and they revoked the fine.   

Want to find out what the people of Canterbury think? Click below:

What does Canterbury think? by adodds04