COUNCILS dished out parking fines at the rate of one every four seconds last year.
Local authorities issued around 7.8 million parking tickets in 2013. amounting to £255 million in fines, says research by Churchill Car Insurance.
And the figures could be even higher, as Churchill's statistics relate to responses from only 187 of the 435 UK councils contacted for data.
Westminster council issued the most fines, handing drivers 455,390 fines worth more than £24 million.