Traffic wardens get it easy in Garvagh!

For figures obtained by The Coleraine Times show that just THREE parking tickets were issued in the rural town for the entire 2011.

In vast contrast, more than 3,000 drivers fell foul of traffic wardens in Coleraine between January 1 and December 31 last year.

Of these drivers, 590 were detected at Long Commons car park.

Portrush motorists were issued with 495 penalties over the same period.

Main Street was the most ticketed street with the red-coated traffic wardens issuing a whopping 233 on the stretch.

Portstewart fared a little better as wardens issued 393 drivers with fines. Not surprisingly the most ticketed area was The Promenade.

In Kilrea only 88 parking tickets were issued, almost half of the offenders were caught on Maghera Street, where 34 tickets were issued.

The statistics were released by the Department of Regional Development and showed that 125,000 parking tickets were issued in Northern Ireland as a whole.

Each parking ticket issued by NSL costs car owners £60 - or £30 if it is paid within 14 days.

The revenue raised by parking tickets is used, along with the income from car parking and other charges, to supplement the overall financing of DRD’s Roads Service by central government.

However, the current cost of providing parking services far exceeds the revenues received.