Conservatives in Wales have accused councils of imposing a 'huge tax on shoppers' after figures revealed they made more than £10m this year from parking charges and fines.
They said freedom of information requests showed the total was 25% up on the previous year.
The Welsh Tories said Labour-run Cardiff and Swansea city councils generated returns of £3.9m and £2.7m in 2017/18, both higher than last year.
Wrexham and Caerphilly county borough councils both saw big rises as their surpluses increased by 245% and 436% respectively.
Meanwhile, Bridgend, Newport, and Pembrokeshire all registered deficits, meaning the local authorities were spending more money implementing parking charges than they were raising from them.
Earlier this year Welsh Labour backbencher Jenny Rathbone AM called for parking charges to be double for the first two hours of car parking in Cardiff, which Welsh Conservatives branded 'a huge tax on shoppers.'
Welsh Conservative and shadow local government secretary Mark Isherwood, said: 'These statistics show two different problems raising from the same issue: either councils are making money from the people keeping the high-street alive or are running inefficient services to charge drivers simply for the sake of it.'
