Illegal parking has cost motorists in the Maldon district £25,930 during the past year.
Council parking attendants took over the jobs of police traffic wardens last April and have issued 1,234 parking tickets since.
But due to difficulties in recruiting people for the unpopular job, less than half the predicted 3,000 tickets for the first year have been issued, an average of 45 per week.
During the first six months of the scheme, only one parking attendant was walking the streets of the whole district.
Between April 1, 2003 and March 31 this year, 414 parking tickets - called parking enforcement notices - were issued for off-street parking, 614 for disobeying regulations for on-street parking and 206 for infringements of residents parking.
Just 68 per cent of the tickets have been paid so far, the majority at the discounted level of £30 for speedy payment as opposed to the full £60.
Of those outstanding, several have been sucessfully challenged or are currently being challenged.
Published Thursday July 8, 2004
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