The offence for which wardens and police issue most fines – illegal parking – has been excluded from the newly introduced penalty point system, many drivers will be relieved to learn.

The law had already become more lenient towards illegal parking in March when the government introduced a one-time warning system, turning a blind eye to illegal parking which does not cause obstruction.

This is in spite of – or perhaps because of – the fact that illegal parking is, by far, the offence for which wardens and police issued most fines in 2015, according to the latest statistics. Between them, they issued nearly 90,000 fines, raking in more than €2 million.

READ: We answer your key questions about the new points system

The figures are included in the National Statistics Office’s 2016 Transport report.

The second most commonly fined offence was the contravention of carriageway markings: single or double white lines. Between them, more than 61,500 fines were issued, raking in more than €1.4 million.

The third largest chunk of fines issued by police and wardens was for irregularities in licensing and insurance, with almost 40,000 fines issued in 2015.

Unlike illegal parking, however, the latter two contraventions have been included in the new penalty point system. Questions sent to the Justice Ministry, responsible for the Law Enforcement Services Agency, for an explanation on why illegal parking was excluded remained unanswered by the time at the time of going to print.