Council pockets £12 MILLION annual profit from parking charges and fines in Milton Keynes

The RAC foundation gathered figures from 352 council in England - and MK was among the top 25 for parking profits.

Throughout England, local authorities made a total of £1.7 billion from parking activities, with £930m of this showing as "surplus" or profit. This was up seven per cent from the previous year and 41 per cent from 2013-14.

Almost half of this surplus in each case came from penalties.

Councils traditionally plough the money raised from parking into transport projects such as supporting concessionary bus fares, filling potholes and work to reduce congestion.

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: "Penalties now seem to account for nearly half of all on-street parking income. What will surprise drivers is that even as parking income soars, the amount of money being spent on routine road maintenance by councils has been in reverse."

Mr Gooding said that because the official numbers exclude the cost of servicing parking-related capital investment funded from borrowing, the surplus costs could be overstated for some councils.

As in previous years, the largest parking profits are being made by councils in London.

Milton Keynes was 18th in the top 24 table, just below Ealing but above Tower Hamlets.