Between them councils across Kent have raked in nearly £50m from parking charges in a single year.

Figures obtained through freedom of Information (FOIs) requests sent to all the local authorities reveal Medway Council issued six times as many parking tickets as Thanet last year.

Medway has by far the largest population size (282,000) so you might expect it to have the most income from its parking services.

But, in fact, it was beaten into second place by Canterbury whose residents number just over 157,000.

The cathedral city, helped no doubt by its high number of tourist visitors, made £10.7m from parking in the financial year 2022/23, compared with £8m for Medway.

The total figures were tallied up following FOI requests sent to all 12 of Kent’s district councils plus Medway, a unitary authority, asking for all forms of income derived from parking for the last fiscal year.

When crunched these numbers included pay and display charges, on-street meter parking, permits, season tickets and income from penalty charge notices (PCNs).

After Medway, Tunbridge Wells - which has a population of around 116,000 - made the third most with more than £6.6m generated in income from parking services.

Whereas, Dartford brought up the rear with a paltry £1m collected during the same period.

However, the pattern is not new, as in the previous five financial years, Canterbury had also led the way with the highest parking income.

For some authorities, the money received from fining motorists who don’t pay or who over-stay their welcome can be considerable.

Medway makes almost £1.7m from fines alone – more than the total parking income for either Folkestone and Hythe, Sevenoaks or Dartford.

In total that year, more than 316,400 motorists had the sting of a penalty charge notice tucked under their windscreen wipers - usually demanding a £70 fee.

Of those district councils that supplied figures, Tunbridge Wells led the charge, issuing 36,624 tickets to raise £1.25million.

However, Canterbury did not supply this figure in its answer to an FOI request - which likely would have been higher.

Businesses in the cathedral city have previously expressed their concerns over how much customers are being charged to park.

Speaking previously to KentOnline, Mark Pegg who heads up shoemakers the Brogue Trader in Burgate, said: "If people are coming here then that’s obviously a deterrent.

"If you’ve got a choice to come to Canterbury and get charged however much for parking, or go to Bluewater or Westwood Cross where you’re not going to get charged, which one are you more likely to go to?

“As a business and as a retailer we’re reliant on people coming into the city, and if there are barriers put up to people coming here then obviously that affects business.

“The biggest complaint we get from customers is the price of the parking.”

The parking fines’ income in Tunbridge Wells is entirely separate from the controversial fines it is issuing to drivers who enter its “bus gate” in Mount Pleasant in the centre of town.

That scheme has raised £1.5m for the council since its introduction in March 2023.

Of the other authorities, Dover has taken in the least from parking penalties, but there is no way of knowing whether that means their parking enforcement team is less efficient or whether the town’s residents are just more law-abiding.

Tunbridge Wells has recently instigated a review of its car parking and may be looking to sell some car parks for re-development.

It is actively seeking to sell off its Mount Pleasant Avenue car park and has placed four others on its “surplus to requirements” list.

One of those is the Torrington car park, which actually last year was the third highest income-spinning car park in Kent, bringing in £652,000 for the council.

Indeed, Tunbridge Wells had three of the six highest-earning car parks in the county, with its other two top car parks each bringing in over £1m. Again Canterbury didn’t supply figures.

Sally Atkinson is a Tunbridge Wells resident who has been campaigning against the bus gate.

She said: “Tunbridge Wells Borough Council seems intent on destroying local trade by disincentivising visitors, both local and distant, from coming to the town.

“Exhorbitant parking charges, together with punitive penalties for driving on the wrong roads or at the arbitrary wrong time, leaves a very unpleasant taste in the mouths of visitors and delivery drivers alike.

“The council are shortsighted by being unprepared to reduce parking costs or to mitigate the issues generated for traders and residents by imposing absurd and unnecessary bus gates.

The restriction there is intended to support sustainable transport and reduce air and noise pollution in the town centre.

Tunbridge Wells council said that a number of drivers who had already received a warning continued to flout the rules, with some vehicles detected multiple times in a day and up to 40 times over the month that warning notices have been issued.

Speaking previously, parking manager John Strachan said: "Our thanks go to the motorists who are observing the restriction and we have now noticed fewer cars pass through this area; hopefully making it more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists."

Of course many drivers opt not to pay a parking fee and just take a chance parking illegally on the street.

It is unwise to do that anywhere but probably particularly so in Maidstone where the parking enforcement team seems to be red-hot.

Of the six streets across Kent that had the highest number of PCNs issued last year, three of them were in Maidstone.

The leader of Maidstone council, Cllr David Burton said: “Maidstone is determined not to allow illegal parking to clog up the town centre.

“But not just the town centre. Illegal parking can be a nuisance in urban areas and rural too.”

“We have a very effective enforcement team who will respond to particular situations as they are identified, as well as carrying out a broad regular sweep of all areas.

“Maidstone provides plenty of cheap parking and there is no need to park illegally. We just won’t tolerate it.”

The Kent street where most parking fines have been issued is Market Street in Dartford.

Works to resurface and pedestrianise parts of the busy town centre - which include that street - are already underway.

It forms part of a massive town regeneration project, costing around £20 million.