Parking ticket numbers rise
Figures revealed today (15 March 2024) shows that 9.7 million tickets were issued to drivers by private parking companies in Britain between April and December 2023.
The motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, which carried out the research, said that many drivers could feel “badly let down” by the delay in ministers introducing a code of conduct aimed at eradicating some of the sector’s worst practices despite legislation being passed.
Private companies are issuing an average of 35,000 parking tickets per day.
On 7 February 2022 the Government announced changes to the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the regulations covering private parking firms. By the end of 2023 private parking operators in England, Scotland and Wales were meant to have new measures in place. These were to include:
- capping charges at £50
- not being allowed to increase a charge for late payment,
- parking charge debt collectors would be banned from adding excessive fees to the parking charge, currently as much as £70.
- fairer appeals system
- higher standards for signage
- banning the use of aggressive language on tickets.
But…!
In the article from The House of Lords Library, Private parking code of practice: Latest developments (8 September 2023), the author states that the Government “temporarily” withdrew the code on 7 June 2022 pending a review of the levels of private parking charges and ban on additional fees provisions in the code. This announcement followed two legal challenges launched by parking firms against the government’s decision to introduce these changes.
The Government launched a 10-week-long private parking code of practice call for evidence on 30 July 2023, alongside a draft impact assessment. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) call for evidence closed on 8 October 2023. The government has said it will issue a further consultation on the options for parking charges and debt recovery fees once the call for evidence is complete.”
It is 5 years to the day since The Parking (Code of Practice) Bill received Royal Assent on 15 March 2019.
The RAC Foundation has calculated that private companies have issued at least 32.2 million tickets in Britain in the last 5 years.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
Since March 2019 many things have happened. The five years have seen us through four prime ministers, a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis.
But what we’ve not seen is the implementation of the protections MPs were queuing up to support when the Parking (Code of Practice) Act made its way onto the statute book all those years ago.
Ministers would do well to consider how their performance looks to the many millions of drivers who’ve been issued with a ticket since the law was enacted.
What’s needed is a swift dose of hurry-up treatment in this election year if those voters are not to be left feeling badly let down.”
The analysis of parking tickets is based on the number of records obtained from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and does not include council-run car parks.
185 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records from the DVLA at a cost of £2.50 per record between April and December 2023.
ParkingEye bought nearly 569,000 records.
A DLUHC spokesperson said:
We remain committed to introducing the private parking code of practice to help improve the regulation of the private parking system.
We have recently concluded a call for evidence and will consult on elements of the code in due course.
The Government continues to work with the industry and consumer groups to reissue the code as quickly as possible.”
In the meantime, see my articles How to challenge and appeal a private PCN and How to appeal a council parking ticket.
Discussing the above and challenges on Channel 5. I am available to discuss more on motoring issues as well as retail, travel, insurance etc. please see Helen Dewdney – Consumer Rights Expert & Media Commentator for more details.
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