The extent of Brighton and Hove City Council's reliance on parking revenue has been exposed by the recent snowfall.

The council has revealed it lost an estimated £660,000 in missed charges for car parks, on-street parking and parking fines during the bad weather in the past two months.

It was hit at a rate of approximately £50,000 a day during the 10 full days and six half-days it suspended restrictions during December and January.

The council, which put its parking wardens to work gritting pavements instead of issuing tickets, is now trying to find a way to balance its books to make up the loss before the end of the financial year in April.

Officials said they hoped to either use funds from other departments or would use cash from reserves.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman yesterday said: "It simply means that we’ll have to spend £660,000 less on other things. But exactly what that might be hasn’t yet been worked out.”

News of the shortfall comes as the council is considering its budget for 2010/11 which already includes severe cutbacks and the loss of 100 jobs.