Glasgow drivers spend more than £25m to park cars in the city over last three years

Glasgow drivers have spent more than £25m to park in the city over the last three financial years, it has been revealed.

A freedom of information request (FOI) submitted by the local democracy reporting service to Glasgow City Council confirms that between 2019/20 the amount earned through parking metres sat at £12.8m but dropped significantly to £4.04m in 2020/21 during lockdown before rising slightly to £8.3m in 2021/22.

And between August 2021 and March 2022, the amount generated from NRS City Parking off-street parking sat at just over £5m.

Council bosses believe the drop in income could be as a direct result of people continuing to work from home and not coming into the city as often. Parking charges were also suspended for three months at the beginning of the Covid crisis.

The local authority received additional funding from the Scottish Government to cover loss of revenue linked to Covid.

The FOI also confirms that before August 2021, City Parking (Glasgow) LLP operated the city’s off-street car parking portfolio on behalf of the council, which consisted of seven multi-storey and nine off-street car parks. On August 1, they returned to the control of the council.

A spokesman for the council said: “These figures reflect the huge impact of the various lockdowns and other restrictions put in place since March 2020 that required people to remain mainly at home.

“Parking charges in the city were also suspended for over three months in 2020 to support key workers in the initial phase of the Covid crisis.

“When the first lockdown was lifted, demand for spaces rose and charges were restored in July 2020 to ensure as equitable access as possible to those spaces.

“As restrictions subsequently eased, there has been an increase in traffic movement and a similar rise in the use of the finite number of the city’s parking bays.

“Income from parking charges is primarily used to operate the parking system with any excess reinvested in the roads network.”