Motorists across the UK are facing a significant surge in private parking fines, with new data revealing a 24 per cent annual increase in tickets issued by private companies.
This sharp rise coincides with yet another postponement in the implementation of a long-awaited, legislation-backed code of conduct designed to regulate the sector.
Analysis of government data by the PA news agency and the RAC Foundation shows private firms issued approximately 4.3 million parking tickets between April and June alone.
This figure marks a substantial increase from 3.5 million during the same period last year, translating to a record daily average of almost 48,000 fines.
Private parking operators have frequently faced accusations of employing misleading signage, aggressive debt collection tactics and imposing unreasonable fees.
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But it was withdrawn by the Conservative government in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.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 growing number of parking tickets across the UK
This is the number of parking tickets issued by private companies in the UK between April and June each year since 2018:
2018: 1,479,152
2019: 2,106,059
2020: 497,678
2021: 1,750,712
2022: 2,676,379
2023: 3,153,157
2024: 3,486,906
2025: 4,332,983
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 per cent 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.”
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