With many town halls increasing the maximum penalty to £80, it means the company could have issued fines totalling £3.4 million.
Kingdom keeps a large part of every fine paid and there are fears its officers get bonuses for the number of tickets they hand out. Civil liberties campaigner Josie Appleton, of the Manifesto Club, which obtained the new statistics, last night condemned the focus on ‘easy targets’ and said: ‘The growth of private companies fining on commission represents a serious violation of the principles of criminal justice and public service