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The number of parking fines issued in Herefordshire jumped more than 10 per cent in the year to April.

In response to a freedom of information request, Herefordshire Council said the number of parking control notices (PCNs) issued in the county in the financial year 2023/24 stood at 24,252, up from 21,996 the previous year.

The council also revealed Herefordshire made £180,692 from the RingGo cashless parking payment system, available for all public car parks in the county, in the year to April, in only the second year of its operation.

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Cashless payments via RingGo jumped by a quarter to 633,365 from 509,095 the year before, and now account for 38 per cent of all parking payments, largely at the expense of cash, the council said.

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It recently extended its contract with RingGo for four months into next January, “whilst holding a tender exercise to procure and contract with a cashless parking solution provider longer term”.

The council said it will supervise the contract to “further mitigate performance issues”, and that “should service fall below the expected level, the council could cancel the contract at any point”.

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It has meanwhile signed up to the National Parking Platform, a government-backed scheme to streamline parking payments without the need for separate apps for different car park operators.

But the council said that while it is following trials of the system, its officers “do not yet have enough data to make a decision either way” on whether to commit to it.

Since 2009 Herefordshire has had a separate system, Chipside, to manage parking enforcement – which has so far handled a total of 149,399 PCNs issued to errant parkers.