Gloucestershire County Council issued more than 75,000 motoring fines during the last financial year, marking an increase from the previous year’s 71,765 fines.
According to data presented to councillors on January 14, a total of 75,821 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were issued. However, fewer than one percent of these cases – only 37 – were escalated to the independent traffic penalty tribunal, reflecting high rates of early dispute resolution.
Simon Searer, senior parking appeals officer, told the environment scrutiny committee that the council oversees on-street parking enforcement and handles parking appeals within the county. The council operates 163 pay and display machines and 18 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
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“In 2024 and 2025, we issued roughly 75,000 PCNs,” Searer explained. “Approximately 53,000 were civil parking enforcement notices, the yellow stickers on windscreens, while around 22,000 related to bus lane and moving traffic enforcement.”
Moving traffic enforcement includes penalties for banned right turns, no entry violations, yellow box junction offences, and other prohibited driving behaviours.
The low number of appeals suggests the council’s early dispute procedures are effective. Searer added that the parking team undergoes regular refresher training to improve their handling of cases, especially at appeal stages.
Additionally, infrastructure improvements are underway, with efforts to replace missing signs and road markings. In 2024/25, nine kilometres of road markings were renewed across key locations including Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bourton-on-the-Water, and Stow-on-the-Wold. These efforts are set to increase in the coming financial year.