More than 30,000 parking tickets were slapped on car drivers across Kirklees last year.

And the big rise in offences meant the total of fines went through the £1.5 million mark.

Figures obtained by the Examiner through a Freedom of Information request to Kirklees Council can reveal 30,253 parking tickets were issued in 2013/14 - up from 27,163 the previous year and 26,079 in 2011/12.

Bu more than 4,600 drivers caught by wardens in the past 12 months have had their fines rescinded.

Nearly half of all those who lodged a dispute with the council over that period were successful.

The breakdown showed in 2013/2014 up to April this year a total of 8,836 appeals were lodged with the council by drivers and some 4,629 of those were subsequently upheld.

A further 1,342 fines were written off, for example if the driver has died, been declared bankrupt or is untraceable.

Parking fines are issued for going over the allotted time and not parking in designated bays.

The full figures showed that fines actually paid to the council topped £1.2m.

Huddersfield had the highest number of fines issued in Kirklees, ahead of Dewsbury.

One possible reason for the increase in fines could be changes to a payment system at one of Huddersfield’s largest car parks.

In March this year Huddersfield’s Queensgate multi-storey car park changed its charging policing and reverted back from a Pay on exit system to Pay and Display, which it had been previously.

Kirklees Council has also introduced PaybyPhone which is now available at all its car parks to allow motorists an alternative to cash payments for an additional 10p or 20p charge depending on length of stay.

A spokesman for Kirklees Council said: “The council actively pursues unpaid Penalty Charge Notices and a wide variety of reasons can lead to a successful appeal and therefore the cancellation of a ticket.

“There are also occasions when some have to be written off, for example where an untraceable vehicle is involved, when the vehicle owner is deceased or bankrupt or when the details do not match with DVLA data.

“There are also cases where the age of the debt means it cannot be recovered due to national legislation.”