The Parkwise service, which saw almost 60,000 tickets issued in six months last year, came under fire for costing more money to run than it was making.

Now, Lancashire County Council – which administrates the scheme – is calling on the 12 district councils who carry out the enforcement to agree to capping its costs.

Councils will be asked to work together to share costs and reduce overheads.

County Coun Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for sustainable development at County Hall, said there was "disparity" between the amount it was costing individual councils to run the scheme.

He said: "Some districts seem to run it fairly well but, for some, it's not so easy for a variety of reasons.

"There have been different interpretations of what costs can be attributed to Parkwise.

"We would be working out some financial limits and districts will have to look at how they allocate costs.

"We would need to agree a figure with each district council but there will be some flexibility in there. We're hopeful that the districts will continue to play ball but it's up to the districts – we can't force them to work with us."

Parkwise came under fire earlier this year when it emerged it was expected to make a £900,000 loss by the time the contract expires in September 2009.

But, in a turnaround last month, the county council said the scheme was breaking even or making a slight profit because money raised from parking meters in Preston and Lancaster should have been counted as income.

County Coun Tomlinson said: "Despite its problems, there has been a lot of good in the Parkwise scheme. I accept that Parkwise is never going to be popular, no matter what it does.

"People don't like paying fines. Certainly, out on the streets, it's been doing a good job and we now need to make sure the administration of the scheme is as good as the work that's being done on the streets."

The district councils have until October 1 to decide if they accept the county council's proposals.

If all 12 do not agree, the next suggestion will be to split the scheme with the local council's running the off-street parking enforcement and the county council responsible for on-street fines.

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