By Rory Sheehan and Beth Hughes

WREXHAM Council has raked in more than £160,000 from parking fines within the last year.

A Freedom of Information request submitted to the authority by the Wrexham Leader reveals that the money was collected from more than 6,000 fines issued, with more than 850 going unpaid to date.

In the last 12 months, from September 2017 to September this year, Wrexham Council issued 6,052 fines for illegal parking.

To date, 875 of those fines remain unpaid.

The council run car park which racked up the highest number of parking fines from September 2017 to 2018 was the Market Street car park in the town centre.

And the total amount of money the council gained overall from parking fines in the last 12 months from PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) was £163,031,18.

The results of the Freedom of Information request also break down the number of parking fines handed out in the previous month (September) to drivers illegally parking in disabled bays without blue badges.

A spokesman for Wrexham Council confirmed that 40 PCNs were issued in September to date for contravention code 40 on street offences - ‘parked in a designated disabled persons parking place without clearly displaying a valid disabled persons badge in the prescribed manner’, and 87 off street offences ‘parked in a designated disabled persons parking space without displaying a valid disabled persons badge in the prescribed manner’.

In the four years before 2017, Wrexham Council gave out more than 16,000 parking fines, the final total coming to 16,818.

During 2013 the council gave out 3,929, while that figure rose in 2014 to 4,443

In 2015 the number of fines issued by the council fell to 4,085 but rose again in 2016 to 4,361.

Guidance on Wrexham Council's website regarding fines for illegal parking states that a civil enforcement officer (CEO) issues a Penalty Charge Notice by fixing it to the vehicle or handing it to the driver.

It details the alleged parking contravention in words, and also as a two digit code.

The council's fixed penalty charge notices range from £50 to £70. A full list of the offences they can be issued for can be found at www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/travel/car_parks/know_your_pcn.htm