If you’re partial to overstaying your welcome in public car parks, or prefer to find your own unconventional parking spot to avoid the weekend rush, you might want to avoid the UK’s newly-revealed parking fine hot spots…

UK Carline analysed the parking fines issued by councils across the country between January 2014 and December 2016, to discover when and where people are most likely to be hit with a dreaded parking ticket.

A shocking 2,752,900 parking fines were issued over the three year period, costing British drivers up to an eye watering£275,290,000, with 941,888 tickets handed out in 2016 alone.

While Brits may enjoy a spot of weekend shopping, Saturday was found to be the day that traffic wardens were out in full force, with councils issuing 430,035 Saturday parking tickets in the three-year period – 3% higher than the average weekday (417,456 fines).

While UK Carline discovered that Brits are 44% less likely to be fined on a Sunday than on an average weekday, there’s no rest for the wicked, as traffic wardens still issued 235,584 Sunday tickets throughout the three years.

Brent motorists were found to be hit the hardest with parking fines, with 537,128 issued between 2014 and 2017 – costing motorists £53,712,800.

2016 was a particularly expensive year for parking tickets, with a whopping £94,188,800 worth being issued across the country in 12 months.

Commenting on the research, Jonathan Nolan, general manager at UK Carline, said: “We were astounded at the amount of parking tickets British motorists have received in the last two years, and even more shocked about the millions of pounds the UK pays out every year on fines.

“We felt especially bad for anyone caught out with one of the 86,427 parking tickets issued in October last year – the highest number in the last three years!

“While we know that many of these fines are justified, drivers can occasionally be unfairly issued with parking tickets. Fortunately, if you are one of the two million drivers hit with a ticket over the past three years, there are ways of appealing, and it doesn’t necessarily take too much time or effort. It’s well worth taking a look at the ways you can appeal – it could save you a lot of money and hassle!”