The driver regularly left her three vehicles in controlled spaces without paying.

A spokesman for the AA said the bill was the largest the motoring organisation had ever encountered.

There will be other people in the city who have had as many tickets as this woman but who have paid them off in time Kenny Boyle Parking manager

Since 1999, the woman has left one of her vehicles in the city's George Square almost every day.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said it would have been cheaper for her to have paid the �1,800 cost of an annual pass at the nearby Royal Concert car park.

The woman, who has not been named, has paid out �12,000 of the money owed.

However, that still leaves an outstanding balance of more than �5,000 for each of her three cars.

Speaking in the Daily Mail, the council's parking manager Kenny Boyle said: "She is our worst offender but we have people who walk into our office each week with bundles of tickets and pay them off.

Park illegally

"There will be other people in the city who have had as many tickets as this woman but who have paid them off in time.

"Everyone who gets a parking ticket thinks they are a victim, but there are quite a number of people who openly abuse the system."

Neil Greig, the AA's head of policy in Scotland, said he was "very shocked" by case.

"It is the highest amount that we have ever heard of," he told BBC Scotland.

It is unusual for the council to know who is doing it Neil Greig AA

"I was talking to my colleagues in the south east and London recently and they cannot recall anyone, even in London, running up this sort of debt."

He said most large debts were created in cases where the owner was unaware of the problem, for example where a car was stolen or number plates had been copied.

"It is unusual for the council to know who is doing it, for them to have come forward and to actually be working with them to pay off the debt," said Mr Greig.

"We are pleased that a persistent offender is being targeted."

Glasgow City Council manages 3,500 spaces in the city centre area.

Drivers who park illegally are handed a �25 fine, which increases to �50 if the penalty is not paid within 14 days.