A PARKING campaigner has spoken of his delight about the drop in the number of fines issued to drivers in Bolton.

Figures obtained by The Bolton News show that the number of parking fines issued by Bolton Council fell by 22 per cent between 2008 and 2013.

In 2008, the council issued a total of 35,332 fines for on and off-street parking, compared to 27,408 in 2013.

Pensioner Barry Moss, who has helped dozens of drivers contest parking tickets since 2009, put pressure on the council to comply with parking laws and sort out “illegal parking bays”.

Mr Moss said: “I would like to think that the drop in fines is partly down to the council clearly marking the bays and the double yellow lines so people know where they can and can’t park, but I actually think people are more switched on these days about the law.

"I am really pleased with what Bolton Council has done with the parking bays in the town.

“All the double yellow lines are nice and neat now, and the parking bays and restrictions are very clear for drivers. That’s all I ever wanted.”

Last week, The Bolton News revealed that more than 1,400 parking tickets were issued in just one street in Bolton town centre last year.

The fines were issued in Knowsley Street — home to businesses such as McDonalds, Halifax, The Co-op and Rhode Island coffee shop.

Of the 1,448 parking tickets issued in the street, 1,402 were issued by the council’s CCTV “spy car”, which is just under a quarter of the 4,889 tickets which were issued across the whole of Bolton using CCTV. Bolton Council said the drop was likely to be down to National Car Parks (NCP) taking over the some council-run car parks in February 2009.

A spokesman said: “We believe there are several reasons why the number of fines has dropped.

“Since February 2009, the council has not issued any parking fines for surface level car parks as the enforcement of these car parks was taken over by NCP.

“Also, we have had free parking initiatives running for a few years now and as a result people are choosing to take advantage of the free parking offer in the multi-storey car parks rather than parking on street.

“We would like to reiterate that we don’t make any profit from parking fines, and any income goes back into the highways service for road schemes.”

In 2007 Bolton Council forked out tens of thousands of pounds to bring up the standard of parking bays and double yellow lines meet the correct criteria.

In the year ending March 2008, the council collected £267,574 from off-street fines, and £814,799 from on-street parking tickets.

This compares to £28,673 from off-street parking and £837,054 from on-street parking last year.