UK drivers have been hit by a 24% annual spike in the number of parking tickets issued by private companies, new figures show.
This comes amid a further delay in the introduction of a legislation-backed code of conduct for the sector.
Some 4.3 million parking tickets were handed out by private businesses between April and June, according to analysis of Government data by the PA news agency and motoring research charity the RAC Foundation.
That is up from 3.5 million a year earlier and represents a record daily average of nearly 48,000.
Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be almost £4.8 million per day at the current rate.
Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.
Many drivers have been sent tickets they claim are unfair because of the way some payment machines operate, with one campaigner claiming the devices are “set up to trap people”.
A Bill to enable the introduction of a code of practice for the industry received royal assent in March 2019.
This code, due to come into force across Britain by the end of 2023, included halving the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, creating a fairer appeals system, and banning the use of aggressive language on tickets.
But it was withdrawn by the Conservative government in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.
A new consultation on the code by the current Labour Government was initially planned to close on September 5 but this has been delayed by three weeks.
The analysis of parking tickets was based on the number of records obtained from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) by companies chasing vehicle owners for alleged infringements in private car parks, such as at shopping centres, leisure facilities and motorway service areas.
They do not include council-run car parks.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said the extension to the consultation was frustrating but has enabled updated statistics to come to light which “make the case” for changes to be made.
He went on: “Not all motorists are blameless, but what we don’t understand is how this scale of keeper data release can be needed unless something is badly awry in the business of parking management.
“Private parking management is essentially a one-way street to big profits for firms in the sector, driven in large part by the millions and millions of tickets issued annually.
“No wonder, as revealed in the now-extended consultation, that private equity firms have been rushing to buy up the biggest players in the private parking sector.”
Some 184 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records in the three months to the end of June.
ParkingEye was the most active, buying 668,000 records.
The DVLA charges private companies £2.50 per record.
The agency says its fees recover the cost of providing the information and it does not make any money from the process.
In June last year, industry bodies the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community published their own joint code of practice.
It included requirements for consistent signage, a single set of rules for operators on private land and an “appeals charter”.
Motoring groups criticised it for not including features such as a cap on charges or the removal of debt recovery fees.
A BPA spokesperson said: “The BPA welcomes the Government’s consultation.
“We believe the proposals set out are pragmatic, and as a sector we are working constructively to respond.
“With 42 million vehicles making nearly 40 million parking visits every day, it is inevitable that some charges will arise.
“However, it is important to recognise that 99.6% of these visits do not result in a charge.”
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We inherited a dysfunctional private parking market that lacks transparency and protection for motorists.
“Our private parking code of practice will stamp out unfair charges and drive up standards in the industry – the consultation on this closes next week and we’ll work quickly to bring in these changes.”
– This is the number of parking tickets issued by private companies in the UK between April and June each year since 2018:
2018: 1,479,1522019: 2,106,0592020: 497,6782021: 1,750,7122022: 2,676,3792023: 3,153,1572024: 3,486,9062025: 4,332,983
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