TWO COUNCILS are owed more than £40,000 in unpaid parking fines, figures have shown.

Freedom of Information (FOI) data obtained by the Leader shows the number and value of parking penalty charges owed to Wrexham Council and Flintshire Council.

According to the data, as of November this year Wrexham Council had a total of 367 outstanding PCNs (penalty charge notices) which came to a value of £26,958.

Flintshire Council had 224 outstanding PCNs in November this year, which came to a total value of £16,930.

According to the data, the car park with the most outstanding fines in Wrexham was Market Street and in Flintshire it was Grosvenor Street.

A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: "Every issued PCN follows a statutory process which includes registering the debt and a bailiff service tries to collect on it.

"Unfortunately not every PCN issued is collected on despite every attempt (there is a legally set time to collect on the warrant) and the debt has to written off.

"When and if the PCN is paid is down to the person who received the ticket. "The council, of course, has no control over this.

"It is always ‘live’ data, so whilst Market Street is the car park with the most fines/outstanding debts this month, it could be another one next month. "Therefore, it is not necessary or appropriate to change enforcement for Market Street - or any other car park."

Steve Jones, chief officer for streetscene and transportation at Flintshire Council, said: "Flintshire Council’s car parking service operates to a full cost recovery model with the charges in the car parks being set at a level which is affordable, whilst providing sufficient income to recover the cost of maintaining the car parks.

"Nationally recognised processes to recover debts from unpaid penalty charge notices are followed because in the present climate all revenues are extremely important, and the Authority works diligently to recover all monies owed to them, in line with our policy.

"Grosvenor Street car park is a short stay car park in one of the busiest towns in Flintshire and it would therefore be expected to generate a higher level of PCN’s."

The Leader also obtained FOI data for the number and value of overturned parking penalty charges for both counties over the last five years.

The figures show that Flintshire had 1,552 PCNs overturned between 2014 and 2018 to date, at a total value of more than £84,000.

Wrexham had 1,885 PCNs overturned during the same period, at a value of more than £105,000.

A Wrexham council spokesman said: "Tickets can be overturned for a number of reasons.

"Evidence/mitigation may be produced which we have a legal duty to consider and cancel tickets if appropriate to do so."

Mr Jones added: "Because every appeal is treated on its own merits, we are unable specify the most common reason for rescindment."