Edinburgh ranks among UK's top 10 cities searching for help appealing parking fines, new research reveals
Edinburgh has ranked ninth in the UK for population-adjusted Google searches about challenging parking fines, placing it ahead of Glasgow, London and Birmingham.
Edinburgh residents are turning to Google for help appealing parking fines, with the Scottish capital ranking ninth out of 15 major UK cities analysed in a new study.
Research carried out by UK digital marketing agency Koozai found that Edinburgh records an estimated 33.9 parking appeal-related searches per month for every 100,000 residents, putting it ahead of Glasgow, which ranks eleventh with 32.1.
The study analysed Google search data to find out where people are most actively looking for information about challenging parking tickets and disputing parking charges.
Manchester topped the rankings with 52.7 monthly searches per 100,000 residents, followed by Southampton with 50.1 and Newcastle with 49.9.
Edinburgh finished ninth, making it the highest-ranking Scottish city among the two included in the research.
Edinburgh ranks ahead of Glasgow for parking fine appeal searches
One of the key findings is the difference between Scotland's two largest cities.
Edinburgh generates an estimated 180 parking appeal-related Google searches each month, compared with Glasgow's 210.
However, when population is taken into account, Edinburgh records a slightly higher search rate of 33.9 per 100,000 residents, compared with Glasgow's 32.1.
That puts Edinburgh two places ahead of Glasgow in the UK rankings, despite the latter generating more searches overall.
Edinburgh also ranks ahead of London, which records an estimated 32.6 searches per 100,000 residents.
The capital generates approximately 2,970 parking appeal-related searches each month, the highest total of any city analysed, but falls to tenth place once population is considered.
Edinburgh also finishes ahead of Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Leeds.
While the differences between some cities are relatively small, the findings show how overall search volumes can paint a different picture when adjusted for population.
Which UK cities are searching most for help appealing parking fines?
Manchester leads the rankings with 52.7 estimated monthly searches per 100,000 residents, followed closely by Southampton in second place with 50.1 and Newcastle in third with 49.9.
Coventry takes fourth place with 43.9, while Cardiff completes the top five with 39.3.
Nottingham ranks sixth, followed by Bristol in seventh and Leicester in eighth.
Edinburgh takes ninth place with 33.9 searches per 100,000 residents, just ahead of London in tenth and Glasgow in eleventh.
Liverpool, Sheffield and Birmingham follow, while Leeds records the lowest population-adjusted search interest among the 15 cities studied, at 21.4 searches per 100,000 residents.
What are drivers searching for when challenging parking fines?
Alongside the regional rankings, Koozai also examined the phrases people across the UK use when looking for help appealing parking tickets.
The most popular search term analysed was "challenge PCN", attracting an estimated 2,400 Google searches each month.
Other commonly searched phrases included "appeal parking ticket", with approximately 1,900 monthly searches, and "appeal PCN", with 1,600.
The phrase "parking charge notice appeal" also attracted an estimated 1,600 monthly searches, while "how to appeal a parking ticket" generated around 880.
The research also looked at searches relating to drivers who received parking tickets despite having already paid for parking.
However, the available data couldn't establish how many searches involved drivers who had already paid or whether the charges they received were justified.
Although Edinburgh ranks among the top ten cities for parking appeal-related searches, this doesn't necessarily mean motorists in the city receive more parking tickets or that local parking enforcement is less fair.
Instead, the findings highlight where people are most frequently searching for information about challenging parking charges, relative to the size of the local population.
How was the research carried out?
Koozai analysed Google Ads Keyword Planner data covering October 2025 to September 2026, examining 16 search terms associated with appealing, challenging and disputing parking tickets.
The research compared estimated monthly search volumes across 15 selected UK cities, adjusting the figures using mid-2025 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics and National Records of Scotland.
Search volumes are rounded estimates and don't represent individual drivers, actual parking fines or successful appeals. Close rankings should be interpreted cautiously, and the findings should be treated as an indication of online search interest rather than evidence of differences in parking enforcement.
The full findings are available in Koozai's research into UK parking fine appeal searches.