DRIVERS in Glasgow paid almost £9 million to park on streets in the city last year.
Figures show motorists are paying out £175,000 a week to park on city streets.
Between April 2013 and March this year, motorists in the city paid £8,922,718.4 in on-street parking charges, generating an average daily income of more than £24,000 for Glasgow City Council.
The figures come after it emerged that the price of parking for an hour in one of Glasgow's busiest streets had risen by 300%. Parking in Kilmarnock Road in Shawlands now costs 80p for an hour, up from 20p.
Fees increased in 30 other city streets, including Paisley Road West, Duke Street, and Great Western Road.
Neil Greig, policy director at the Institute of Advanced Motoring, stressed that parking should be a "service", not a council money-maker.
He said: "Paying for parking is inevitable in any city. However, if the council are increasing the price, then the service should be improved. I'm not aware of anything that has been done to improve the service."
The figures, released under Freedom of Information, show a steady rise in the amount Glasgow City Council has earned from parking in the past five years. In 2009/2010, the council made a total of £7,947,567.97.
A city council spokeswoman said parking fees in many areas had not increased for a number of years.
She said: "The parking controls in use, and the facilities we invest in, are in line with our local transport strategy, which seeks to support greater use of public transport.
"We have established an annual review of tariffs in response to inflationary demands, market conditions and as an effective means of traffic management control."
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