More parking tickets than ever are being issued by local councils despite a cutback in the number of traffic wardens on the beat.
A total of 6.8 million tickets were issued in 2011 - one every 4.6 seconds, the statistics showed.
The amount raised from the fines was more than £234m, figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request for insurance company swiftcover.com show.
One in four tickets was disputed, with those appealing having a 39% success rate. The number of traffic wardens fell from 3,882 in 2010 to 3,693 in 2011.
The chief ticket issuing council was Westminster in central London which dolled out as many as 461,000 of the tickets.
Outside the capital, the largest number of fines handed out last year was from Liverpool City Council ahead of Manchester City Council and Birmingham City Council.
As a result of the higher numbers of fines, there was also a rise in drivers lodging a protest, with more than 1.7 million parking ticket disputes lodged with local councils and Transport for London - or 146,547 each month.
But the success rate for challenges was down dramatically falling from 47% in 2010 to 39% for last year, with a wide discrepancy of success between different councils.
"Shortage of parking has become a huge issue in towns and cities across the UK in the past five to 10 years," said swiftcover.com's Robin Reames.
Local government minister Bob Neill said: "There is no excuse for town halls using parking fines and motorists as cash cows. There are plenty of other ways for councils to raise extra income or make savings like better procurement and sharing back-office services.
"We want to see councils use parking to support the high street and help their local shops prosper. That's why we have ended the last government's requirements to limit spaces, push up parking charges and encourage aggressive parking enforcement."
