With earnings from parking fines almost triple those of neighbouring councils, the council has broken down the types of fines issued.

In the year to August, 2823 people parked in car parks for longer than allowed, while 2315 people parked on the street past their limit.

The next common offence was failing to park parallel, with 544 offences, followed by stopping in a no stopping zone at schools, with 306 offences.

School zone offences accounted for eight per cent of all tickets.

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Council records indicated rangers had been lenient in 115 cases where tickets were cancelled before the data was sent to Revenue NSW due to drivers returning to the vehicle while staff were preparing the ticker and where they decided a warning notice was adequate.

Only two per cent of tickets received by Revenue NSW were written off due to mechanical breakdown or a medical emergency where the driver could provide sufficient evidence.

Motorists who parked illegally in disabled zones received 197 fines, or one a day on average.

Only 62 per cent paid the fine due to the number of cars who were authorised to use the spaces, but did not have the pass displayed.

Parking on footpaths or nature strips, the subject of recent criticism, attracted 209 warnings and 139 fines were issued, with 17 vehicles given more than one fine.

Councillor Glenn Taylor requested the report and said there had been many occasions where parking officers had been seen as overzealous.

"There was a lady who was booked for 'not position rear of vehicle correctly, 45 degree angle parking' and the timeframe she was booked was 8.14am to 8.14am - she pulled up quickly to drop someone off," he said.

"She wasn't there more than a minute, that was her point."

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Cr Taylor said rules were needed, but so was discretion and large fines could break family budgets.

"When the mobile unit came into place, one of the criteria I specified and council agreed to is that unit is very clearly marked - I don't think it's marked clearly enough," he said.

"Times are tough out there."

Councillor Kevin Duffy objected to covert operations.

"I've got photos of a vehicle we are using that is unmarked, it's just not common sense," he said.

"It's revenue raising."

The report included a number of measures to help motorists, with extra linemarking to make parallel and disabled spaces clearer.

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It also noted policy had changed with regard to parking on driveways and nature strips, to issue warnings first where the vehicle did not present a safety hazard.

Cars crossing marked lines, where 119 tickets were issued, will not be fined unless a whole wheel is outside the space.

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