OVERNIGHT SUCCESS? MOTORISTS CASH COWS AGAIN AS COUNCIL BENEFITS £700,000 FROM NIGHT-TIME CHARGES

Nearly £700,000 has been pocketed by the Isle of Wight Council in the past 4 years from charging motorists to park overnight. Costs have doubled since the night-time fees were introduced in 2019 for motorists who want to park in an Isle of Wight Council-owned car park after 18:00. A ticket that used to cost £1 has risen to £2 and now makes the authority more than £300,000 a year. In the year the £1 fee was first charged, it made the cash-strapped authority £150,153. The following year, 2020, saw the COVID pandemic hit council budgets, and the £1 fee made less than a third of the year before – £48,662. In 2021, with the effort to recover after the pandemic, the fee made the authority £177,724. To capitalise on the Summer tourist season, the fee was increased from £1 to £2 between April and October in 2022. The council predicted the seasonal increase would net it an extra £80,000. The price increase, however, saw the council make more than £132,000 than the year before, pocketing £310,609 between 2022 and 2023. It was then agreed earlier this year to keep the fee at £2 all year round, in a move expected to make the authority an additional £36,600. The Isle of Wight Council said the overnight parking fee has helped regulate the use of car parks, with additional enforcement later into the evening and prompting motorists to park more responsibly.