Data collated by Revenue NSW shows Tamworth Regional Council billed drivers $368,115 for parking offences.

The council's traffic rangers levied 2859 individual fines in the 12 months to July, 2022, the data shows.

The year before, 2020-2021, the council levied just $322,2501 in fines, with 2502 individual fines.

READ MORE:

March was the city's most expensive month, with Tamworth drivers paying $48,350 worth of parking fines.

Tamworth council manager of compliance Ross Briggs said that city's two full time parking rangers are aided by four other rangers dedicated to other purposes, who can also issue fines.

"They're out every day and they're on foot, for the most part, they cover the CBD," he said.

"Any of the timed parking areas and the metered parking areas on and off street, the street parks and the carparks, there are restrictions."

Gone are the days when inspectors would chalk tyres to identify how long a vehicle had been parked somewhere.

Want more local news? Subscribe to the Leader to read it here first

Now it's a high-tech sensor under the vehicle chassis, he said.

Mr Briggs said parking fines were about more than money - though the cash does go to fund maintenance of car parks, or construction of new ones.

Issuing fines helps discourage bad driver behaviour that can deny transport to the disabled, business to CBD shops, reduce safety around schools or cause "accidents, injuries or even fatalities", he said.

He said the heft 2021-22 bill probably reflects, in part, an increase in the population of the city and the state-mandated increase in the value of the infringements.

But he said the pandemic had also had an impact.

"When COVID was on, we switched off the parking [meters] and a lot of people are a little out of practice with what they need to do when they go to town at times [I think]," he said.

Support the local news that keeps you informed - subscribe today.

School zones can also be a hotspot for bad behaviour, he said.

"Sometimes [school motorists are] more worried about where they're going and dropping off their children rather than where they should be parking safely."

The second most expensive year on record for motorists was 2016-17, when the council levied $321,048 in fines.

In the lockdown year of 2020, motorists still managed to get fined 1683 times.

That was despite the council switching off all its parking meters that year.

Motorists who overstayed time-limited parking slots, violated disability parking rules or just parked incorrectly paid $198,099 in fines in the 2020 calendar year.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: