THE town centre streets where drivers are most likely to be hit with a parking fine are revealed today.

Blackburn’s Darwen Street, Church Street, Richmond Terrace, Blakey Moor and Northgate have been named as the top five streets targeted by traffic wardens.

The council collected more than £200,000 in parking fines in 12 months – as one traffic warden admitted parking signs ‘aren't that clear’.

Last year, 648 motorists were hit with a ticket on Church Street, more than anywhere else in town. Northgate was second with 520, and Blakey Moor, a new entry on the list, came third with 517.

A total of 501 people picked up a ticket on Darwen Street, and Richmond Terrace was just behind with 495 fines.

Between May 2012 and May 2013, Blackburn with Darwen Council issued a total of 8,658 tickets across the town centre, and collected £205,632 from fines, down slightly on the previous year when fines generated more than £250,000 in revenue, all before overheads were deducted.

Honeyhole resident Sheila Delve, 66, said she was not surprised Church Street topped the list.

She said: “I can understand why. It’s a hot spot, but there aren’t enough parking spaces in town.

“It’s ridiculous that they make so much money from parking tickets. What do they spend it on?

“They don’t improve the roads or anything. They’ve got enough potholes to keep them going all year round if they wanted to.”

Annette McDermott, 53, from Roman Road, was given a parking ticket on Church Street despite displaying a disabled badge belonging to her 25-year-old son, Ashley.

She said: “It’s not properly marked exactly where the parking spaces are.

“The worst of it is, they wait for you to come out of your car and walk away, and then ‘bang’, they jump in and slap you with a ticket.

“We tried to appeal it and got nowhere.”

Robert Scott, 76, from Rawtenstall, said he was in favour of tickets for people who parked illegally.

He said: “It’s a problem when people park in disabled spaces when they shouldn’t be.

“I’ve got a disabled wife and a disabled grandson and often you see young lads just drive into a disabled bay.”

One parking attendant working in Blackburn, who did not wish to be named, said they were not surprised to hear that cars parked on Church Street picked up so many tickets.

They said: “I’m not really surprised because it’s a busy place. It’s right in front of the market. The signs aren’t that clear and people probably don’t realise that they can’t park here.

“I’m very generous, but it gets very busy here and we’re just trying to keep it clear.”

Motoring groups have hit out at parking penalties levied by local authorities, and a recent High Court judgement slammed Barnet Council in London for deliberately trying to profit from parking tickets.

Figures released by the RAC Foundation revealed that in the 2011/2012 financial year, Blackburn with Darwen Council made more than £200,000 in profit from parking activities, almost four times as much as the £54,000 generated the year before.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Between them, English councils made a £565million profit on their parking activities in 2011/12, before capital charges. Blackburn with Darwen made £203,000 alone.

“Legally, there’s nothing wrong with this if two guiding principles are followed. First, the charges are not set to raise general revenue and second, any surplus is ploughed back into transport and environmental services.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council defended its ticketing policy and Brian Bailey, director of regeneration said: “The council does not make any surplus money from enforcing parking regulations.

“Enforcement is the necessary duty of the council to ensure the highways are kept clear."