FINES totalling more than £150,000 have been collected by Northumberland County Council since free parking was introduced in Hexham.

Following a Freedom of Information request by the Hexham Courant , it can be revealed that the four enforcement officers in the town are issuing penalty notices amounting to an average of £1,900 a week.

The staggering revenues generated from infringements at both on-street and off-street parking bays have prompted renewed calls for the current baffling regime of restrictions to be overhauled.

Between free parking coming into force on April 1, 2014 and the end of 2015, the county council collected a total of £159,487.08p in penalties in Hexham.

Assuming everyone settles their fines early at £25 apiece, that means an average of 75 tickets are issued each week across the town.

The council is also cashing in on the confusion created by the curb on all-day parking spaces at Wentworth since September last year, and the introduction of a system of red, blue and white coloured bays.

In the last four months of 2015, penalties raked in from Wentworth alone totalled £18,475 – an average of more than £1,000 a week – an increase of 6.6 per cent on the same period the previous year.

Hexham Town Council devised the colour code system to provide more four-hour spaces for visitors, at the expense of all-day spaces used by those who work in the town.

Robbie Hutchinson, managing director of property firm YoungsRPS, launched an online campaign past year calling on the town council to create more all-day spaces.

But he said the plea on behalf of businesses, suffering because customers and clients were finding it to park and because staff had to move their cars during the day, fell on deaf ears.

“We want to bring new businesses and visitors into the town. Instead we have a system which is deterring visitors, and is penalising people who work here.

“We want a system which is fair to everyone and suits everyone, but those we have elected don’t seem to care. What we have is a complete farce.”

Hexham town councillor and recently elected independent member of Northumberland County Council, Derek Kennedy, accused his own town council of exacerbating problems with the introduction of the red, blue and white bays at Wentworth.

“It is an absolute joke. There are not enough all-day spaces. People are having to leave work half way through the day just to move their car from space A to space B. This is a massive issue that needs to be addressed.”

“We don’t want to end up with the situation where we are discouraging people coming to Hexham, persuading businesses to leave. If this continues what we will be left with are empty premises and the start of the road to decay.”

He said people were being deterred from coming into the town because of the mayhem over the availability of spaces and the zealousness of the enforcement officers.

“There is a real crackdown to try to fabricate infringements, which is totally wrong. I have heard of people getting tickets just because one of their tyres is touching a line.”

But the Mayor of Hexham defended the existing system, saying it was the best option until extra car parking areas could be found.

Coun. Trevor Cessford said the town council was due to have discussions with the county council next week to discuss whether any new areas could be designated for parking.

“We will have a problem until we get extra parking spaces. People wanted four-hour bays to make it easier for visitors to come to Hexham. An awful lot of people are happy with blue bays.

“But we are always happy to look at things again.”

Parking fines are put into the county council’s highways coffers. It insists the income contributes to the cost of providing parking services and maintaining car parks.