MORE than 3,000 penalty charge notices for parking offences have been handed out in Fareham in the five months since the council took over the responsibility, figures reveal.

They show that the majority of the 3,421 fines issued were for on-street parking offences, with parking on a single yellow line the biggest reason for a PCN being issued with 805 drivers ticketed so far.

In second place, 505 drivers got PCNs for parking for longer than permitted, while 213 were issued for exceeding the maximum stay, 246 for parking after the expiry of a ticket, 338 for not displaying a ticket and 303 for parking beyond markings.

A further 266 people received PCNs for not showing a disabled badge while parked in an off-street disabled space, while just 24 drivers got PCNs for the same offence but in an on-street disabled parking space.

Fareham Borough Council has also so far issued more PCNs than it expected. At the start of April, when the council took over parking enforcement, the authority predicted it would issue 3,375 and has actually issued 46 more than that.

By March next year the council expects to have issued 9,960 PCNs, with the number issued each month rising by between 40 to 50.

The authority is also considering using its wardens in a wider way to make them community wardens' able to tackle other issues that affect residents.

This could include giving them the power to issue fixed penalty notices for offences like littering or fly-tipping.

Council leader, Cllr Sean Woodward, said: "I think so far the scheme has been very successful, though my preference would be not to have to issue any PCNs at all as that would mean everyone in the borough was parking correctly.

"My hope is that eventually the wardens will be doing more than just issuing parking tickets and taking on roles like issuing fixed penalty notices for minor offences like littering, and I hope that will happen by next year."

No figures for how much money the council has received from PCNs was in the report.