More than 90 percent of parking tickets issued in Argyll and Bute Council car parks in the last two years were in Helensburgh and Lomond, figures have revealed.
Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 2,240 penalty charge notices were given out by the council in Helensburgh and Lomond in 2021.
That figure accounts for 92 percent of the total of 2,427 issued by council traffic wardens across Argyll and Bute.
In 2020, it was 2,706 out of 3,039 - 89 percent.
The information obtained has also shown that over 500 of those parking tickets, across the two years, remain unpaid, with some going back as far as before lockdown.
Data was submitted for six car parks as part of the Freedom of Information request - Glen Loin numbers one and two, Luss, and in Helensburgh at Maitland Street, the Pier and Sinclair Street.
Argyll and Bute Council’s lease of the number one car park at Glen Loin ended in May 2021, and as such no data for that car park was provided beyond that date.
The Glen Loin number two car park had 1,098 parking tickets issued in 2020, followed by 1,046 in 2021.
Of those, a total of 210 remain unpaid - 13 of which date back to the first three months of 2020 before lockdown was imposed due to Covid-19.
Luss car park also hit four figures for penalty charge notices in 2020, registering 1,019.
However, in 2021 its number dropped to 641 - 48 of which were during the first three months of the year, when travel restrictions were in place.
Eight of those account for 196 of the parking tickets from the two years which remain unpaid from Luss car park.
A further nine were issued before lockdown and remain outstanding.
Exactly 500 tickets were issued in Glen Loin’s number one car park from the start of 2020 until the council relinquished its lease, with 44 of them unpaid.
Helensburgh’s Pier car park had slightly more during the two years, with 503, with the council awaiting payment for 85 of them.
Sinclair Street car park had 128 tickets issued over the two years, with 13 unpaid, while at Maitland Street, only one out of 11 parking tickets remains outstanding. It was issued in February 2020.
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: “Over the past two years, we have seen a significant rise in the number of people choosing to visit and staycation in the Argyll and Bute area.
“This rise was a much-needed boost for the local economy, but unfortunately led to a number of irresponsible parking incidents in Helensburgh and Lomond, which caused issues for our communities and the travelling public.
“The council follows standard legal procedures for any unpaid penalty charge notices (PCN).”
They added that anyone with a question about fines should visit argyll-bute.gov.uk/forms/car-park-fine-enquiry-form ”
