A FUMING councillor is calling for a review of the parking penalty policy after almost 10,000 fines were issued by wardens in 2018/19.

A council report states that 9,117 penalty charge notices, or PCNs, were issued during that period, with over 700 subsequently 'cancelled'.

Tory councillor David Wilson has raised concerns about the number of tickets being issued in the area and he argues it is 'excessive'.

Cllr Wilson said: "The policy was never intended to issue this amount of tickets.

"When the police were doing it, the figures suggested that there was something in the region of 1,000 parking tickets issued a year.

"I have asked that we review the reasons for giving parking tickets and that we alter the policy so that we are not issuing tickets for minor offences like being over the white lines."

But local authority officials have defended their parking rules policy.

A spokesman for Inverclyde Council said: “The number of Penalty Charge Notices that are issued is entirely down to the number of offences that are committed.

"We enforce the regulations consistently and fairly.

"Drivers who follow the regulations don’t get penalty charge notices.

“Parking regulations are intended to make sure that there is a turnover of spaces in retail areas to allow people to park and shop.

"In residential areas the idea is to make sure that commuters and shoppers don’t monopolise the parking spaces at the expense of people who live in the area."

The council document says 6,614 of the PCNs in 2018/19 were paid.

Their spokesman confirmed that total income collected was £303,000.

This includes £52,000 taken in by Sheriff Officers on the council's behalf for outstanding fines from previous years which had gone beyond 'normal' collection methods.

The overall sum also includes £23,000 not yet collected but owed to the council.

The council's spokesman added: "The money collected through penalty charge notices is used to pay for the parking wardens and maintaining car parks and parking meters.

"It is a self-financing system and not a system which is designed to generate cash.

"The law states that any extra money generated through penalty charge notices must go towards transport or environmental improvements.

"Figures provided by Transport Scotland show that Inverclyde’s surplus in 2017-18 was just £2,352.”