MORE than 4,000 parking fines were issued by Inverclyde Council last year with more than a quarter of the penalty notices going unpaid.

Latest figures show that the local authority gave out 4,357 penalty charge notices (PCNs) for parking in 2022/23, a slight increase from the previous year’s total of 4,327.

March saw the highest number of fines issued, with 492, which was the most given out in a single month since July 2021.

READ MORE: Councillor raises concern about disabled parking at IRH

Five-year figures reveal that West Blackhall Street in Greenock is the most common place for penalty notices, with more than 2,164 handed out since April 2018.

More than half of all parking fines issued over the last five years have been given out in Greenock.

Of the 4,357 fines last year, more than 1,700 were for drivers who parked on roads for longer than they were permitted to.

Just over 800 PCNs were handed to motorists who overstayed in car parks. A further 885 were given to people who were caught loitering on roads where it was not permitted.

An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said that the local authority was able to recover unpaid penalty charge notices through debt recovery, a proces which can take a considerable amount of time.

However, they added that the vast majority of PCNs would be paid ‘eventually’.

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They told the Tele: “Enforcement is always a last resort but the data shows that we will take action if required though we would always prefer that we didn't have to."