Car parking code of practice delay "scandalous" as fines soar

The government’s sluggishness to implement a code of practice for private car parks has been described as “scandalous” by the AA as firms are set to issue as many as 14.5 million fines this year if trends continue.

Originally devised in 2019, the Private Parking Code of Practice was designed to crack down on greedy car park operators that have been accused of taking advantage of drivers; such a view is easy to understand when you consider how DVLA data analysed by the RAC shows that operators could be in line to issue £1.4 billion in fines this year, assuming that targeted drivers all receive a £100 parking charge notice.

Plans to implement the Code were scrapped in 2022 following a legal battle and claims of hardship from the parking industry, although it’s worth pointing out that firms now issue doubled the number of fines annually compared to 2019 when the Code was first conceived.

With this in mind, the AA has branded the government’s thus-far lackadaisical approach to implementing the Code as “scandalous”, with head of roads policy, Jack Cousens, saying the organisation is “hugely concerned that the government is standing idly by while drivers continue to receive threatening letters from a sector that works on the basis of guilty until proven innocent."

“Urgent action is needed, and introducing the rules by the end of the year will help wrestle back some of the balance in favour of the motorist,” Cousens continued.

Auto Express approached the Department for Transport, asking if and when it plans to implement the Code. Not wanting to be pinned to an exact timeline, a government spokesperson said: “Motorists must be protected when using private car parks, and we are determined to drive up standards in the industry.

“We know how much of an issue this is for drivers, which is why we will set out further details on the private parking code of practice as soon as possible.”

Ultimately, until some sort of code is introduced, Cousens claims that “drivers will continue to be attacked by these shark-like businesses.” On the other hand, operators maintained back in 2022 that following the Code could result in 46 per cent of parking businesses going bust within a year, and the loss of 3,000 jobs. At the time, the British Parking Association – an industry trade body – said reducing the maximum parking charges could limit the effectiveness of parking enforcement and increase the risk of drivers ignoring parking rules.

The RAC points to recent high-profile parking cases that highlight the perceived unfairness of parking operations, including one where a driver was threatened with £1,906 in fines after taking longer than five minutes to pay for parking in Derby, and also the hundreds of angry users of a car park in Syston, Leicestershire, who have been threatened with fines due to what they claim are parking machine faults.

The RAC also says its analysis shows that just five parking firms are responsible for almost half the requests to the DVLA for keepers’ details currently, while our calculations suggest the £2.50 cost of making such requests nets the UK Government more than £36 million in revenue each year from parking firms.

Click here to read more about the Private Parking Code of Practice...