Two Street car parks were among the ten Somerset sites where drivers were most likely to receive a parking fine last year. Northside car park and Grange 1, which both serve the Clarks Village area, featured in figures released by Somerset Council following a Freedom of Information request.

Northside car park, on the western side of Clarks Village near Next and a short walk from Street High Street, generated 691 penalty charge notices in 2025/26. That made it the eighth highest car park in Somerset for fines, according to the figures.

Grange 1, one of the car parks at the entrance to Clarks Village off the A39 Westway, generated 584 penalty charge notices in the same period. It was the tenth highest car park in the county for fines.

Somerset Council's figures show the most common issue at Northside was parking without a ticket being clearly displayed. Drivers were also fined there for parking in disabled bays or across more than one space.

At Grange 1, the offences varied more widely. They included parking without clear display, staying beyond the paid-for time, parking in disabled bays and parking across multiple spaces.

Across Somerset, income from penalty charge notices has doubled in recent years. The council generated nearly £780,000 from parking fines in 2020/21, rising to more than £1.5m in 2025/26.

Penalty charge notices, or PCNs, are issued for a range of parking and traffic contraventions. In Somerset, they are usually £50 for lower-level offences such as overstaying a time limit or not paying for parking, and £70 for more serious contraventions such as parking on single or double yellow lines.

Drivers can usually have the penalty reduced by 50% if they pay within 14 days. That brings the lower-level charge down to £25 and the higher-level charge down to £35.

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The county's biggest parking fine hotspot was The Crescent car park in Taunton, which generated 1,368 penalty charge notices in 2025/26. It was followed by Canon Street in Taunton, with 1,288, Orchard car park in Taunton, with 1,260, and Cattle Market car park in Frome, with 1,229.

Somerset Council said money raised from parking fines has to be reinvested in parking or associated services. It cannot be used to fund areas such as adult social care, children's social care or other wider council services.

A council spokesperson said: "Any surplus from parking penalties and parking charges is used to cover the costs of running parking services and meeting parking-related obligations.

"Once these costs are met, any remaining surplus is generally restricted to purposes such as public transport, road and highway improvements, parking provision, and local environmental improvements, in line with the statutory framework in England.

"This is set out in the Traffic Management Act 2004, which refers to the underlying spending rules in Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

"We are not expecting penalty charge notice volumes to increase, and no increase has been built into the medium term financial plan."

Original reporting: Daniel Mumby/LDRS

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