Watling Street car park is one of Kent’s worst ticketing hotspots, the Gazette can reveal.

The Canterbury site ranks third in the county, with 2,795 tickets dished out to drivers in the last financial year.

That’s more than 1,000 more than its nearest rival in the district – the Queningate car park.

Central Parade in Herne Bay – Kent’s second worst road – and car parks in Pound Lane and St Radigund’s make up an unenviable top five.

The figures were uncovered in a Freedom of Information request, which revealed drivers in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay have been hit with up to £2.2 million worth of fines in the last year.

The statistics show 31,190 tickets were issued in the district between April 2010 and March this year – an average of 85 a day.

But only 65 per cent were actually paid, with a third of drivers challenging their fines.

The city council wrote off almost a quarter of tickets dished out – the highest cancellation rate in the county.

But the sheer volume of fines has led to claims the council uses parking fines to swell its coffers, with campaigners saying drivers are being treated like “cash cows”.

For full story see this week's Kentish Gazette.