NEXT time you park in Western Esplanade, watch out.

If you don't pay for parking, you are likely to become one of the many contributors to Southend Council's parking fine coffers.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Echo revealed Western Esplanade was one of the top five hotspots for parking tickets in the borough.

Scatterbrained drivers might also want to forget about leaving their ticketless car in London Road; Belton Way, Leigh; Tylers Avenue car park and Elmer Avenue car park, both in Southend town centre.

Those areas were responsible for a large chunk of the £1,203,162 the council made out of parking tickets in the past financial year, and the £1,173,404 made the year before.

Ian Robertson, councillor responsible for parking, said the council did not make much money out of on-street parking after costs for things such as parking attendants' wages and maintenance were deducted.

He said: "We don't make much money out of it at all.

"Last year, we lost a few thousand and this year we made a few thousand. So over the last two years, we probably broke about even.

"But it's not a money-making thing. It's about keeping the roads clear and safe."

Southend Council em-ploys a private company called Central Parking System to issue parking tickets or penalty charge notices to people.

The company has 30 full-time and two part-time parking attendants in Southend, 17 of whom are on duty at any one time between 7.30am and 9pm every day.

Mr Robertson said people did not pay for parking for a variety of reasons, but he warned inspectors would often catch up with them.

He said: "You get people who don't want to pay for parking and or they buy a ticket and just want to stretch it out a bit.

"Or people just forget about it.

"Nobody likes to pay for parking."