Almost 8,000 parking tickets were issued across Carlisle in an eight-month period, according to council figures.

“Inconsiderate parking” putting school children in danger and the “misuse” of Blue Badges were among the reasons why motorists were slapped with fines.

A total of 7,651 penalty charge notices were doled out for on-street parking between April 1 and November 30.

The parking tickets are down slightly from the figures in 2017 when a total of 7,866 were issued in the same area and over the same timeframe.

The report will be discussed by the Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for Carlisle on Wednesday.

Members have been asked to identify any ongoing issues with enforcement and parking management in a bid to improve the service.

The Parking Services team is also responsible for two off-street pay and display car parks in the city centre, the Cecil Street car park and the facility behind Cumbria House, the authority’s headquarters.

A total of 33 parking tickets were issued between April 1 and November 30, down on 2017 which saw 52 tickets issued for the same car parks.

In Carlisle, the Parking Services Team includes eight enforcement officers who also cover Eden with a new officer set to join in February.

The team needs the extra colleague to help deal with the volume of complaints and demands for enforcement action.

They also field queries from councillors, the media and the MPS, which must be dealt with “promptly”.

The report adds: “The team regularly receives reports regarding inconsiderate parking outside schools which creates potential safety issues for children and other road users.

“The team continues to issue PCNs [Penalty Charge Notices] relating to the misuse of Blue Badges and report instances of abuse.”

On-street parking tickets, Carlisle:

nApril 2018 – 812

nMay 2018 – 1087

nJune 2018 – 1092

nJuly 2018 – 849

nAugust 2018 – 715

nSeptember 2018 – 790

nOctober 2018 – 1082

nNovember – 1224.

Off-street parking tickets, Carlisle (Cecil Street and Cumbria house):

nApril 2018 – 5

nMay 2018 – 8

nJune 2018 – 3

nJuly 2018 – 5

nAugust 2018 – 1

nSeptember 2018 – 5

nOctober 2018 – 6