Nearly 200 tickets a day are being handed out to drivers caught parking illegally by Bradford Council wardens.

In the first six months since the Council took over from the police in March almost 36,000 fines have been slapped on motorists who flout the rules of the road.

The vast majority of offenders – 92 per cent – took advantage of half-price discounts available to people paying swiftly. These penalty charges have earned the Council £850,000 so far, for the service which is self-financing.

Most of the tickets were handed out in Bradford city centre, which has the largest team of parking officers, followed by Shipley and then Keighley.

June was the most expensive month for motorists with 6,300 tickets issued, but this dropped to a low of 4,971 in August, before increasing to 5,736 the following month.

Mary Frame, of Bradford Chamber of Trade, told the Telegraph & Argus: “People will be put off coming into the centre of Bradford to shop if they have to worry about this level of tickets being issued – or they are going to learn pretty quickly.

“I would be interested in finding out what they are spending the money on now it goes to the Council.”

Paul Ratcliffe, the Council’s parking services manager, said: “Our service is self-financing and we are on target as so far we have generated about £850,000.

“The civil enforcement officers who tackle illegal parking have noticed over time that parking has improved which means the roads are less congested and it helps businesses in the city and town centres.

“The officers are not given any targets to reach or incentives to do their job.

“Obviously no-one likes receiving a parking ticket but generally people are in favour of the action we are taking both to keep the streets safer and allow traffic to move more freely.”

The Council took on 46 civil enforcement officers this year, with 12 working in the city centre, eight each in Shipley and Keighley, and six each in Bradford North, South and West.

They are able to impose fines of £70 for offences such as parking on single or double yellow lines or £50 for things such as overstaying in a pay and display car park. The fee drops by half if paid within 14 days.

Since the March handover, the Council has been responsible for enforcing parking restrictions, some school zigzags, pay-and-display parking, disabled car parking spaces and limited waiting areas. Last month the T&A reported that officers were set to gain powers enabling them to hand out fines for driving or parking in bus lanes.