Merton Council made more than £8 million from fining drivers in just one year.

In the year 2017/18 the council made a total of £8,191,414 in penalty notices.

More than half of that was made from fines for ‘moving traffic conventions’. This includes going the wrong way down a one way road and stopping in a box junction.

Parking fines brought in whopping £2,346,390 from more than 57,000 PCNs (penalty charge notices) handed out. These are usually placed on windscreens when drivers park in restricted areas.

And in 2017/18 the council issued 21,110 fines for motorists driving in bus lanes making £1,412,426 from these charges.

A report published by Merton Council in September stated that an underspend in parking services was down to more fines being handed out.

But it is not just driving offences that the council hands out fines for.

In the same period fines from dropping litter made  £442,480 and £16,000 from fly tippers.

A further £6,300 was made from a fine for ‘waste duty of care’, this is when households have not checked where their waste is going leading to rogue traders fly tipping it.

And £1,600 was made from people who abandoned their vehicles.

A spokeswoman for Merton Council said: “All surplus money from parking enforcement activity is ring-fenced by the Government for spending only on transport and environmental related services.

“In Merton the money is used to cover the costs of managing the service, on projects such as repairing pot-holes and road safety schemes, and contributes towards the funding for the Freedom Pass scheme, which costs Merton Council around £9m a year.”