DRIVERS shelled out a whopping £742,000 in parking fines last year, according to new figures from Bury Council.

And people who pay to park in Bury generally have contributed more than £1 million to town hall coffers.

The report reveals that, in the 18 months since October 2002, when Bury took over decriminalised parking enforcement, its agents NCP issued 44,667 penalty charge notices.

Of those, some 29,922 (or 67 per cent) were paid, 10,292 (23 per cent) were cancelled, and 4,453 (ten per cent) were still being dealt with.

A large majority of cancellations (83 per cent) involved disabled badges or tickets which had not been displayed correctly but were subsequently produced, or concerned drivers who were found to be legitimately loading or unloading.

Only 130 (0.29 per cent) went to the National Parking Adjudication Service for judgement. Of these, 82 were upheld in favour of the driver, 41 were dismissed, and seven are still awaiting a decision.

The report also shows that in the last financial year, 2003/04, drivers paid more than £1 million to park in the town's car parks, and a further £350,000 to park on the street. After costs, this meant that £731,000 was put in the council's general fund.