AN administrative error caused Lancashire County Council to under-report the income which it generated from fines handed out to motorists over a 12-month period – by more than £2m.

The authority responded to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request earlier this year about the money it made from parking penalty charges and bus lane fines in each of the past two years.

As the local democracy reporting service reported in June, County Hall told the insurance comparison site which made the enquiry that driver indiscretions had added £261,000 to the council’s coffers in 2017.

But just 12 months later, that figure was reported to have rocketed to just over £3m – an apparent increase of 1,050 per cent.

It was thought a possible explanation for the massive leap could have been that the controversial Fishergate bus lane cameras were switched off for much of 2017 after highways bosses were ordered by a tribunal that the signage warning drivers about them needed to be clearer.

But it has now emerged that the reality was far more straightforward – the original figure was simply wrong.

The true total for 2017 was £2.3m – meaning that the increase over the course of the following year was a still significant, but far less eye-watering, 33 per cent.

The Labour opposition group on the authority was made aware of the error when they planned to ask a question on the subject at a meeting of the full council last month.

Transport spokesperson and Preston South West county councillor Gillian Oliver had been intending to accuse County Hall of being “out to extract revenue” from motorists in the city unfairly. However, she is now accusing the council of not holding its hands up to a misleading mistake.

“I find it astounding that this Conservative administration knew there were erroneous figures in the public domain and they haven’t corrected them,” County Cllr Oliver said. “I think an honest, fair-dealing council would have acted quickly to correct the record. This is a controversial area and clarity is important to accountability.”

There is no suggestion that the incorrect figure was deliberately released in the FOI response and deputy council leader and Conservative cabinet member for transport, Keith Iddon, said he was “happy to set the record straight”. But he rejected the opposition group’s criticism of the authority.

“This was an innocent clerical error and I’m very disappointed that Labour are choosing to attack the staff in this way – especially when officers took the trouble to explain the situation to them and when it was Labour who introduced the Fishergate bus lane in the first place.

“But I do believe that these traffic restrictions are important, because they help reduce congestion and air pollution in Preston city centre and keep the traffic flowing.”

Last month, a task group on Preston City Council called for all revenue from bus lane violations in the city to be reinvested within Preston rather than redistributed to other parts of Lancashire.