Councils in the UK made £411 million through parking charges in 2011/12, new figures provided by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) have shown.

This was a 14.9 per cent rise on the previous year and a huge 27 per cent increase on 2009/10.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest earners were all in London, with motorists in Westminster forking out £38 million and people in Kensington and Chelsea paying £27.5 million.

The IAM is angry that these big profits have not helped to prevent councils from cutting back on road safety initiatives.

Indeed, the organisation confirmed there was an 18 per cent decline in the amount of money spent on such schemes last year.

"At the same time cuts to road maintenance will mean a backlog of repairs which will simply cost more to fix in the long term," commented IAM chief executive Simon Best.

Vehicle drivers are constantly bemoaning the rising cost of motoring in the UK and recent campaigns forced the government to backtrack on a proposed 3p fuel duty rise that would have taken effect this month.