Parking fines issued in Henley town centre hit £120,000, FOI request reveals

PARKING fines issued in Henley town centre reached £120,000 last year.

Civil parking enforcement officers employed by Oxfordshire County Council issued 1,815 fixed penalty notices from December 2024 to December 2025.

The data was revealed following a Freedom of Information request made by the Henley Standard, which shows the number of fines had increased by 304 on the previous year.

Of the 1,815 charges, 1,449 were issued at the higher charge of £70, which could be reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days.

A total of 366 charges were issued at the lower charge of £50, which could be reduced to £25 if paid in 14 days. If all fines are paid at the full charge, the total would amount to £119,730.

This is up £19,480 compared to the charges recorded from December 2023 to December 2024.

Bell Street was where the most fines were issued with 253 and £8,995 collected to date.

Hart Street has the second most fines with 155 and £4,855 collected to date.

Thames Side had 153 fines with £5,155 collected to date and New Street had 139 charges and £4,690 collected to date and Duke Street had 100 fines with £3,550 collected to date.

The most common charge was for parking in a restricted street, with a total of 862 fines and £32,045 collected to date. The second most common fine was for parking with no valid ticket, totalling 235 and £6,150 collected to date.

Wrong class of vehicle charges was third, totalling 206 charges and £7,670 collected to date, while 158 charges were issued to people who failed to park with a valid permit or ticket. The total amount paid to date for this fine is £5,550.

Eighty-six fines were made in the town to people who parked in a loading bay, with £3,090 collected to date and 60 fines were made for parking for longer than the allocated time, with £1,710 paid to date.

Other charges included parking in a disabled bay without a badge, which was recorded 26 times, 11 fines each for displaying an invalid permit and failing to park within the markings and seven charges for stopping at a restricted bus stop.

A further four fines were issued for parking in a restricted street while improperly using a blue badge.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak, who represents Henley on Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, said he was shocked by the figures. He said: “I find it really surprising that so many people have been fined in the Henley area and I’m shocked that the numbers have gone up.

“To have 1,800 fines issued is really surprising but none of this money is received by Henley. It all goes into the Oxfordshire pot or doing traffic management. It’s also paying the salaries of the parking wardens that police the streets of Henley.

“In Duke Street and Bell Street, we absolutely want the loading bays to be clear of cars because they are there for lorries and vans to unload goods for the shops.

“Henley has parking wardens that are permanently in the town and they patrol the town to make sure the loading bays are empty and also that the traffic flows smoothly.

“I would welcome the town council taking over all of the parking issues in Henley and also control of South Oxfordshire District Council owned car parks [in Henley].”

Cllr Gawrysiak added that there have historically been parking issues at the front of the town hall and the roads leading up to Townlands Memorial Hospital.

He said: “On numerous occasions, at the front of the town hall, lorries coming round the town hall have got stuck because of people parking opposite.

“Notoriously, there have also been parking issues on the entrance to Townlands which meant that the town bus couldn’t get round but that has largely been solved by the traffic wardens.”

Mayor Tom Buckley said: “Although decriminalisation of parking has put some level of enforcement in place, the penalty charges provide nothing back to the town itself.

“The amount of money raised should support increased enforcement more of the time. The split between roads and car parks between the district and county councils means they can milk Henley while giving nothing back.

“Hopefully, when we get the planned government reform, Henley can take control of its own parking and really make a difference.”