TAXPAYERS' cash is being used to prop up a council parking warden scheme after it failed to issue enough tickets to cover costs.

Despite more fines being issued in Blackburn and Darwen than in any other part of East Lancashire, the authority has admitted it has had to subsidise the operation.

The amount of cash involved is believed to be substantial -- and the council is still working out the exact total.

But a spokesman insisted it will not cut back its 20-strong team of parking enforcers, despite being told by Government the service must be self-financing.

Today, opponents of the parking regime said it proved the ruling Labour group had been "too heavy-handed" when it decided it needed so many wardens. Around a fifth of parking attendants employed in Lancashire are in Blackburn with Darwen alone.

There are around 90 wardens employed for the rest of the county, where district councils and Lancashire County Council work together to enforce parking regulations.

In East Lancashire, they issued 41,000 tickets over the last year, making councils £1.2million before cancellations.

A total of 20,000 tickets have been issued in Blackburn with Darwen since the council took control of parking last October, with fines ranging from £30 to £60.

The vast majority of fines were paid within 14 days at the £30 rate and Blackburn with Darwen Council is understood to have collected more than £600,000. When it first proposed taking over enforcement, estimates suggested £650,000 was needed to operate the system.

East Lancashire's other councils use private contractors NCP to run their system and they reduce or increase the number of wardens based on demand, meaning the service can't run at a loss.

A Blackburn with Darwen Council spokes-man said the shortfall would be met from regeneration budgets. Coun Andy Kay, executive member for regeneration, said: "It is true the attendants haven't covered their costs but this scheme was never about making money, it was about making the roads safer.

"There is no need to reduce the number of attendants at the moment because they are doing a good job, but difficult choices made need to be made in the future."

Jeff Stone, a hair salon in Fleming Square, Blackburn, who has campained against the wardens, said: "We've had so many cases of people being booked for a minor indiscretion. It's now obvious why, they haven't been issuing enough to make it worth their while."

And Tory councillor Paul McGurty added: "It's rather heavy-handed for us to have a situation where there are too many attendants and money meant for other things is now being spent on keeping them in a job."

A spokesman for the Department for Transport explained: "Part of decriminalised parking is that schemes must be self-financing.

"Any surplus can be used for traffic-related schemes but they have to pay their way in the first place."

He added the Government was not aware of any other councils were also having to prop up their schemes.