A seaside council issued thousands of parking fines over the bank holiday weekend as scores of Britons flocked to the beach. 

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said that a host of beachgoers decided to park illegally despite there being empty car parks just minutes away.

A staggering 2,844 fines were handed out, according to the council, including penalty charges of between £50 and £75 depending on the offence. 

The local authority has asked for permission from the Department for Transport (DfT) to double parking fines for the second consecutive summer in a bid to deter careless drivers.

The DfT is, however, yet to respond to that request. 

A spokesperson for the department said: 'We're considering evidence from last year's trial in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council area and will respond in due course.'  

The council added that each summer more than 2,000 tonnes of waste gets left on its scenic Dorset beaches. 

Elsewhere, residents of Formby and Ainsdale, near Liverpool, were unable to leave their own drives on Tuesday amid a huge backlog of vehicles trying to reach the coast. 

The two towns' beach car parks were both closed, leaving sun-dwellers desperately roaming the streets for spaces. 

The local authority said that some 700 fines were ultimately handed out as residents complained of cars parked on cycle paths, pavements and even on a traffic island.   

It comes as Britain continues to bask in a heatwave which has seen temperatures soar to record levels. 

On Tuesday, heats of 35.1C were recorded in Kew Gardens, south-west London, beating the previous record set just a day earlier. 

The unprecedented heat has sent thousands of Britons flocking to beaches, lakes and rivers across the country - but emergency services have been left stretched by a string of fatal incidents.  

Among the victims was 15-year-old Declan Sawyer, who died after entering the water at Swanholme Lakes in Lincoln on Sunday.

In West Yorkshire, a 13-year-old boy died after getting into trouble at Leadbeater Dam near Halifax on Monday afternoon. Police said he was pulled from the water and rushed to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

A teenage girl's body was also recovered from Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire, while another teenager was found dead in the water at Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

And on Tuesday evening, Lancashire Police confirmed a body had been recovered from the River Ribble after a 12-year-old boy disappeared while swimming with friends at Ribchester.

The tragedy continued in Cornwall when a man in his 60s suffered a cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach near Padstow in a desperate attempt to rescue two relatives who had got into difficulty in the water.

The heat has also sparked chaotic scenes on British transport, with an array of train services cancelled due to 'severe weather'.  

In one incident a train from London Marylebone to the West Midlands was emptied at Banbury - with staff forced to hand out water bottles amid the sweltering heat.

And Network Rail was this week forced to impose speed restrictions amid fears tracks could buckle completely in the heat.