Traffic wardens patrolling the streets of Carlisle have dished out more than 11,000 parking tickets in the last year.

New figures published by Cumbria County Council show that a total of 11,156 parking enforcement notices (PCN) were slapped on the windscreens of motorists in the city between April last year and March.

The amount handed out in the last year is a whopping 1,336 more than the previous 12 months.

Countywide statistics show that more than a third of all on-street tickets issued in Cumbria were in the Carlisle district, with a total of 29,670 handed out across the the county.

It means the council took in more than £750,000 from on-street parking tickets in the last year, although it did not make a profit.

Across Cumbria 1,101 tickets were cancelled after appeals.

It was in September where parking wardens in Carlisle handed out the most tickets – a total of 1,165. Next was November with 1,153 and October is 1,056.

The lowest by a huge margin was in December last year, with only 226 tickets issued, with council bosses admitting their enforcement officers adopted a “light touch” over the Christmas and New Year period.

Julia Clifford, who runs iCan health and fitness centre on Corporation Road, said that if an increasing amount of tickets continue to be handed out it would drive customers away.

“It’s absolutely a concern. More and more people will stop coming into the city, of course they will,” she added.

A report outlining the latest figures and how the parking enforcement service is being run in Carlisle will be discussed at the county council’s local committee for Carlisle on Thursday.

In the report prepared for councillors, Dominic Donnini, the authority’s corporate director for environment and community services, wrote: “This was the first full year of an in-house, countywide on-street parking enforcement service.

“Parking income has increased and the number of successful PCN challenges has reduced. The service has successfully trialled the use of virtual permits following the floods in December.”

Viv Dodd, secretary of the Carlisle City Centre business group, said: “City centre parking has always been an issue here and we were delighted to win the battle with the county council two years ago when there were proposals to install on-street parking meters.

“But this particular issue is not something that the businesses have come knocking on our door with.”

On-street parking enforcement was the responsibility of Carlisle City Council until February last year, when the county council took over the reins.

The city council is still responsible for parking off-street.