Increase in number of on-street parking fines

The Penalty Charge Notice Statistics 2015 & 2016 report, published by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), reveals that the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) handed out to motorists in the city rose from 3,471 in 2015 to 3,624 last year - an increase of just over four per cent.

The situation was similar in Hillsborough, where the number of parking tickets handed out for on-street offences rose from 235 in 2015 to 258 last year.

The biggest percentage increase was recorded in Moira, where there was an 85 per cent jump in the number of tickets issued year-on-year - 123 in 2015 to 227 last year.

According to the statistics, the number of on-street parking tickets issued in Dunmurry went up from 59 in 2015 to 64 last year, while there was a small decrease recorded in Crumlin (50 to 49).

In Glenavy just one fixed penalty fine was handed out for on-street parking contraventions in 2016 - one more than the previous year.

The report also reveals that a total of 2,502 parking tickets were issued for off-street parking offences in council-controlled car parks in the Lisburn and Castlereagh area during 2015. A total of 2,452 of those PCNs were issued in Lisburn, while 50 were issued in Hillsborough, according to the DfI statistics.

There was a slight increase in the number of tickets issued in Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council-controlled car parks last year, with 2,676 drivers being hit with PCNs. Of those 2,615 were issued in the Lisburn area, while 61 were handed out to motorists in Hillsborough.

Across Northern Ireland a total of 84,876 PCNs were issued in 2016 for on-street parking violations - an increase of 11 per cent from 2015.

Last year just over two-fifths (41 per cent) of all on-street PCNs were issued in Belfast.

The number of off-street parking PCNs issued across Northern Ireland also increased by 11 per cent year-on-year, to 36,041 in 2016.

The full report - the first such publication produced by the Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) of the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) - is available online at www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk