by Martin Jefferies

More than 600 drivers in Kent are given parking fines every DAY - but in some places, at least a THIRD of tickets go unpaid.

KentOnline can reveal that around 240,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were handed out last year - a quarter of which were issued by parking wardens in Medway alone.

But only 172,000 (72 per cent) were actually paid and in areas like Dover, that figure is as low as 63 per cent.

Our research also revealed drivers in Sevenoaks are least likely to challenge tickets, while motorists in Swale are the most likely to appeal.

Only 13 per cent of fines in Sevenoaks were challenged in 2010/11, compared to 34 per cent in Swale.

On average in Kent, a quarter of tickets are contested, even though three in five appeals are successful. Some 35,000 fines were cancelled last year, following protests from drivers who felt they had been wrongly punished.

Last month, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal said that across the UK, only one per cent of drivers take issue with their fines.

KentOnline can also reveal the county's parking ticket hotspots, using figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Blighs Meadow car park in Sevenoaks tops the list of the most-ticketed streets and car parks, with 3,393 tickets slapped on windscreens in 2010/11.

The next worst is Lockmeadow car park in Maidstone (3,157), followed by Watling Street car park in Canterbury (2,795), Royal Victoria Place car park in Tunbridge Wells (2,329) and Medway Street car park in Maidstone (2,116).

By contrast, just 430 tickets were issued in Northdown Road, Cliftonville - Thanet's most-ticketed street or car park.