City suffers 'parking shortage'

Parking spaces are at a premium in Sheffield

Sheffield has fewer car parking spaces than rival cities in the north, according to new research.

The survey, carried out by insurance firm Privilege, also shows that many drivers are willing to break the law because of a shortage of parking spaces nationally.

The research looked at 50 of the country's biggest towns and cities, and highlighted Sheffield as suffering a parking space shortage.

Per head of population the city lags behind Leeds, Bradford and Manchester in its parking provision.

The research also showed that one in ten drivers has had a parking ticket in the last year.

A fifth of drivers are willing to risk a parking fine because they think their stay is too short to pay a minimum parking fee.

But for some drivers the difficulty in finding a parking space in any town or city proved so difficult they just gave up and went back home.