A rise in the number of penalty charge notices issued by Redbridge Council from 2017 to 2018 meant that the local authority received more than £7million from fines last year.

According to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOI) from Confused.com, in 2017 Redbridge Council issued 160,583 penalty charge notices (PCNs) which generated £7,829,608.

In the following year, 2018, the number of PCNs increased to 167,566 and this generated £7,886,759 for the council.

This includes fines for offences such as parking, misusing a bus lane or box junction, or turning right illegally.

A spokesman for Redbridge Council told the Recorder: "Parking controls play a huge part in keeping traffic moving and our roads, pedestrians and motorists safe.

"We only issue fines where we believe there has been a breach of the regulations and the increase in volume is most likely due to improvements in technology and enforcement practices.

"Income from parking permits and parking controls is ringfenced and used to pay for traffic and highways schemes, including subsidising concessionary fares, such as freedom passes for elderly residents."

The total income made from fines by London local authorities last year reached more than £326million from nine million PCNs.

Westminster City Council received the most money from PCNs with 313,012 fines being issued in 2018 and an income of £16,555,556.

Confused.com discovered nearly three in four (74per cent) of motorists who appealed against their fine were successful and paid a lower amount or none at all.

The data also revealed that confusion around signage was one of the main reasons that drivers were being fined.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: "The fact that almost three quarters of PCN appeals were successful last year suggests that some fines are being issued unfairly.

"Challenging an unfair fine can be both complicated and daunting. The appeal process is confusing and needs to be made clearer.

"With councils raking in more than £326million in PCNs, it's only right that some of this fine money is invested to help make road signs clearer to eliminate the number of fines being distributed unfairly."

Visit confused.com to see the company's challenge checklist for drivers.