The streets in Norwich where people are most likely to receive a council parking fine are revealed today, with one of the city centre's most historic roads the biggest hotspot for tickets.

Norwich City Council collected £611,411 from fixed penalty notices last year and a Freedom Of Information Act request has highlighted exactly where civil parking enforcement officers dished out most of their tickets.

Historic Colegate was the street where the highest number of notices were issued between the start of April 2015 and the end of March this year, with 1,005 penalty notices placed on motorists' windscreens.

The city council's team of 26 enforcement officers issue penalty charge notices to drivers who park in its pay and display car parks or in on-street pay and display bays without proper tickets, to those who park in areas of permit parking without a permit and to those who unlawfully park in car parks set aside for council tenants.

The council says the use of such notices is essential to prevent abuse of the parking system and to ensure spaces are available.

In Colegate, which topped the list, there are sections of the street which are covered by residents-only parking and a number of pay and display bays for short-stay parking.

It was also top of the chart for 2014/15, when 986 penalty notices were issued in the street.

Second on the hot-spot list is Chantry Car Park, the city council-run car park sandwiched between the Chapelfield shopping centre and The Forum, where 880 penalty charge notices were issued.

Motorists using Chantry Car Park yesterday said they had no problem with people who did not pay for their parking being penalised.

Retired Gill Brown, from Watton, said: 'Some of us pay for our parking, so everybody should do. But I do think the parking here is a bit expensive.'

And Jo Lytton, from Caister-on-Sea, who works for NorfolK Recovery Partnership, was annoyed that she had to overpay for her stay, because the parking payment machine did not take change.

And she said: 'It's also not very easy from the sign just how much you need to pay. You find yourself having to add a day charge and an evening charge and it isn't very clear.'

The old Rose Lane car park, which has just been replaced with a new £7m, 595-space car park, was in third spot, with 716 notices handed out.

Tombland, another historic city centre street. was in fourth spot with 663 penalty notices and just under 600 were issued in St Benedicts Street.

Other notable inclusions include Cathedral Street, just off Prince of Wales Road, where almost 500 penalty notices made it the 7th joint highest and tourist favourite Elm Hill, which was in 13th place with 304 tickets issued.

A spokeswoman for Norwich City Council said: 'Abuse of the parking system is a common form of complaint to the council.

'So it's important that members of the public know that enforcement is in action and some of the reasons why – for example it keeps roads clear and ensures parking spaces are available to support the local area.

'By doing this we aim to have a system that's fair and works for everyone.'

The £611,411 generated through the penalty charge notices was down on the previous year's total of £629,570, even though fewer penalty charge notices (23,741) were issued that year.

Fourteen per cent were successfully challenged that year, compared to 12pc over the past 12 months.

The Department for Transport has made clear that parking enforcement should not be used to raise revenue, but should be operated on a 'secure financial footing' to ensure the service can continue.

The council says it cost £1.1m to run the service, including to employ the enforcement officers, last year.

Bert Bremner, Norwich City Council's cabinet member for environment and sustainable development, said: 'The council has a duty to enforce parking regulations in order to manage traffic in Norwich, balancing the needs of residents, visitors and businesses.

'Any surplus generated by parking income goes to Norfolk County Council for further investment into the city's roads.'