MOTORISTS in Wirral have been asked to cough up a staggering £1,200,000 worth of parking fines in the last year.

The shocking figure represents a huge increase in the amount of cash raised since council-managed parking attend-ants replaced Merseyside Police traffic wardens in November 2003.

Since then the price of a standard parking fine has risen from £20 to £30 and if the ticket is not paid within 14 days motorists are forced to pay a £60 penalty charge notice.

Up to 2001, the whole of Merseyside's on-street parking was enforced by police and in that year the force issued 11,850 tickets across Wirral.

It is predicted that Wirral Borough Council will have issued 40,000 fixed penalty notices by the end of the year.

But many motorists are unhappy with the new system and are refusing to pay.

In the last six months just over half of motorists agreed to pay their fines and almost a quarter of them were cancelled.

Deputy leader of the council Phil Davies said: "It is a lot of extra money but as long as it is reinvested in our transport programme then it is a good investment.

"I think we need to strike a balance between making sure proper restrictions are enforced and not unfairly punishing people.

"I received a number of complaints under the old system and I am pleased offenders are now being taken to task.

"The other side of the coin is that there are some areas of the borough where there is an argument that some of the regulations should be relaxed."

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