PARKING fines in the city have increased by almost 30 per cent over a 12-month period, according to new figures from Cork City Council.

A report compiled by the council’s chief executive, Ann Doherty, ahead of a Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting this week stated that 50,927 Fixed Charge Penalty Notices (FCPNs) were issued by the local authority from March 2022 to February 2023.

It compares with a total of 39,180 issued between March 2021 and February 2022.

Across both periods, Patrick Street was the top location in the city for catching offenders where 3,269 fines were issued between March 2021 and February 2022 and 3,416 fines were issued between March 2022 and February 2023.

This was followed by South Mall, where 1,494 fines were issued between the 2021 and 2022 period versus 2,015 in the 2022 to 2023 period.

In the former time span, Connaught Avenue off Donovan's Road, Grand Parade and Cornmarket Street completed the top five offence location breakdown while Grand Parade, Cornmarket Street and Wellington Road where the other top illegal parking blackspots in the latter duration.

The top five reasons people received fines between March 2021 and February 2022 were for failing to display a valid disc (17,684), no current licence disc displayed (5,575), parking where there was a no parking sign (3,870), parking in a loading bay (3,754) and parking on double yellow Lines (1,692).

There were 153 fines issued for parking on or obstructing a cycle track during that timeframe.

The offence breakdown was similar between March 2022 and February 2023.

Failure to display a valid disc was the primary reason for motorists receiving a fine (21,033) followed by no current licence disc displayed (8,245); parking in a loading bay (5,066); parking where there was a no parking sign (4,876) and parking on double yellow lines (2,416).

There was a significant decrease in the number of fines for parking on or obstructing a cycle track, with 60 issued between last March and February.