The amount of money written off by Bradford Council for uncollected parking fines over the past two years is a staggering one.

More than £400,000 has, for whatever reason, been unable to be collected by the Council.

But what will be most infuriating to the vast majority of law-abiding citizens who pay their parking tickets if and when they get them is that it is once again those who ignore the rules who seem to get away with breaking them.

It seems many of the 6,922 tickets written off relate to stolen cars or vehicles that are not registered for some reason.

That could be because the cars are foreign in origin or because the owners have not registered them with the DVLA.

But whatever the reason, those who play by the rules have to pay; those who flout them seem to be getting away with it.

It may well be, as the Council points out, that the figure is a national average and Bradford is no worse than other districts, but that will not make the situation any more palatable for those who have paid their fines.

The fact that the figure is revealed on the day that councillors are being recommended to reject a move to allow 20 minutes free parking for all motorists in the city centre is doubly infuriating.

The cost of this move would be £90,000 – a figure that could be covered by collecting less than 25 per cent of these written-off fines.

Overturning the recommendation might help placate motorists left infuriated by the sheer volume of tickets written off – and it would also give a real shot in the arm for Bradford city centre at the same time.