Recruitment struggles and long-term staff sickness mean drivers who flout parking restrictions in Norfolk are less likely to be fined.
Council officials said the parking enforcement officers which issue fines were being stretched thinly because of staff shortages.
While new figures revealed 36,000 penalty charge notices were issued across the county over a 12-month period, officers said there were "difficulties" in covering the whole county.
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Members of the Norfolk Parking Partnership joint committee - made up of councillors from the county's various councils - heard about the struggles at a meeting on Tuesday.
Officials told councillors there were three vacancies in Great Yarmouth which had yet to be filled despite recruitment attempts.
Miranda Lee, head of customer services at Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: "Attracting staff for vacant posts has been a bit of an issue and that will have an adverse impact on the PCN income."
Martin Chisholm, business manager at West Norfolk Council, said: "We are experiencing exactly the same issues.
"In areas such as North Norfolk, Breckland and Broadland, where we have two full-time equivalents covering the whole of North Norfolk, one in Broadland and two in Breckland, you don't need a lot of sickness or a lot of churn to create quite an impact on the results those areas have.
"I'm aware that Norwich City Council has embarked on a recruitment campaign to fill some of their longer-term vacancies, which is helping."
But Mr Chisholm said, with shorter distances to travel around the city, it was simpler for Norwich to be covered than some rural areas.
He said: "In West Norfolk you've got 550 square miles and it's not quite as easy to have people ping-ponging around where complaints do come in.
"We are monitoring it carefully. Long-term sickness is probably our biggest issue, because it's totally unpredictable in most cases."
He said the available enforcement officers were "working really hard" to focus on areas of the most significant contravention."
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The fines are £50 or £70, depending on seriousness and are halved if paid quickly.
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