HAMPSHIRE councils have been warned against using motorists as "cash cows" after raking in a record £22million from parking.

New figures reveal how Southampton civic chiefs made nearly £5m in "profit" from fees and penalties last year.

Town halls across the county enjoyed income hikes above inflation despite many freezing their charges or offering short stays for free.

Researchers branded the surpluses "eye-watering" while anti-tax campaigners said drivers "suspect they are simply being used as cash cows".

Yet council chiefs stress the money is not "profit" as it is reinvested in services.

Southampton City Council's return has nearly doubled in the past five years from £2.68m to £4.9m, putting it in the top 20 money-spinners outside London.

Winchester makes almost as much at £4.2m despite having half the population, according to research by the RAC Foundation.

Eastleigh Borough Council scooped a £1.4m surplus while drivers in the New Forest helped their authority make £1.2m.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Small charges are sometimes necessary to manage our roads but Hampshire's motorists will suspect they are simply being used as cash cows for the council.

"There are already sky high taxes on fuel and for owning a car so councils must be careful that they don't heap even more misery onto hard-pressed taxpayers."

Across Hampshire the amount made from parking has increased by nearly a third over the past five years, from £16.9m to £21.9m. A record £688m was made across England in 2014/15.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The financial sums involved in local authority parking are huge and the overall profits eye-watering. And once again the year-on-year direction of travel is upwards.

“The legal position is that parking charges are to be used as a tool for managing traffic. But with local government budgets under ever-greater pressure the temptation to see them as a fundraiser must be intense.

“The precarious financial state of many councils is a genuine concern, not least when it comes to the risk of a cut in road maintenance spending which will hit every one of us. A funding solution requires national and local government to look beyond the High Street parking meter.”

But Cllr Warwick Payne, deputy leader of Southampton City Council said: "I don't recognise that figure of £5million - it's not one I've heard mentioned at the Civic Centre.

"Far from trying to get more money out of motorists every year we've frozen parking charges for at least two years and it's proposed that they don't go up next year either.

"Motorists have been hit in previous years and when Labour came to power we recognised it was probably better to lay off."

Winchester City Council's surplus has rocketed by nearly 50 per cent since 2010/11 with drivers paying up to £1.30 an hour to park in the town.

A meeting heard income has increased again since April despite an ongoing price freeze and the closure of a major city car park in April.

Council boss Stephen Godfrey said he was "mystified" by the jump but added: "We are delighted it means good news for business, good news for Winchester and good news for our finances."

A Winchester spokesman said the increase was partly explained by more passengers using the city's park and ride.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council made £1.27m last year while Fareham collected £1.29m. Only Hart District Council reported a drop in earnings.

Test Valley Borough Council, which made £1.3m, has not increased its charges since April 2013 and has agreed to freeze them until March.

A Test Valley council spokesman said: “Test Valley Borough Council has not increased its car parking charges since April 2013 and has agreed to freeze them until March 2016.

“All car parking income is shown as income to the Council’s General Fund where it is applied to cover the cost of management, patrolling and maintenance of both the council’s off-street pay and display car parks and on-street parking restrictions.

“Our parking charges are in general the cheapest in the local area.”

In the New Forest motorists can buy annual parking permits - known as clocks - instead of paying every time they use a council-owned car park.

A council spokesman said: "The council has not increased parking charges for the past four years and has recently agreed to freeze parking charges again for 2016. In addition, our annual parking clocks offer excellent value for money for regular car park users."

A £20 short-stay parking clock costs less than 40p a week while the £100 long-stay version costs under £2 a week.