DRIVERS in Taunton Deane forked out more than £400,000 in parking fines in the last year, the County Gazette can reveal – and the number of tickets issued has risen by almost 70% in the last six months.

Eagle-eyed parking enforcement officers slapped 6,938 tickets on cars parked illegally on our streets in the first ten months since taking over the duties from Taunton Deane Council last June.

From September to the end of April, cameras also clocked 9,265 motorists – roughly 40 per day – using the bus gates at Ilminster Road, Blackbrook, and Mountway Road, Bishops Hull, netting the council a whopping total of £414,382 for the two offences.

The council also received £99,393 in parking fees paid at Shire Hall car park on Saturdays and the on-street parking meters around Taunton to the end of April.

Figures obtained by the Gazette show a clampdown on rogue parkers, revealing 2,632 more drivers were hit with fines in town car parks and streets in the first six months of the county council takeover, compared to the number of tickets issued by Deane enforcement officers in the six months prior.

The Deane issued 2,485 on-street tickets and 1,566 in car parks, while the county dished out 4,194 and 2,849 respectively.

A spokesman said: “To the end of April 2013, Somerset County Council received £189,398 in payment of penalty charge notices for parking contraventions, and £224,984 for those relating to the two bus gates.”

He added: “All this income funds the cost of the countywide parking service. Across the county, a surplus of about £300,000 was provided by civil parking enforcement between June last year and the end of March.”

The council says the bus gates are there to stop the routes becoming a “dangerous rat run”.

A spokesman said: “Thousands of drivers have received PCNs for contravening the restrictions, driving through the designated bus gates. They are in place to provide a faster journey for commuters using the park and ride facilities.

“Despite the clear signage and extensive media interest, many motorists continue to ignore the restrictions.”