Drivers in the UK have been hit with a 24% rise in the number of parking tickets issued by private firms as delays to the introduction of a new code of conduct continue.
Slightly more than 4.3 million tickets were handed out between April and June, government figures analysed by the Press Association and motoring research charity the RAC Foundation showed.
That’s a little over 846,000 more than the 3.5 million issued during the second quarter last year.
With a daily average of 48,000 tickets and fines running to as much as £100 each, they could be costing motorists as much as £4.8m every 24 hours, the data suggests.
Drivers have complained about private firms using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection practices and unreasonable fees.
Many drivers have been given tickets they claim are unfair because of how some payment machines operate, with one campaigner claiming the devices are “set up to trap people”.
Laws providing for a new code of industry practice were expected to come into force by the end of 2023, having received royal assent in March 2019.
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It would cap fines for most parking offences at £50, introduce a fairer appeals system, and ban the use of aggressive language on tickets.
But, following legal challenges by parking companies, the then Conservative government withdrew it in June 2022.
A new consultation on the code by the current Labour government was initially planned to close on 5 September but this has been delayed by three weeks.
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 analysis is based on the number of vehicle 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.
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They do not include council-run car parks.
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Some 184 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records in the three months to the end of June, with ParkingEye the most active, buying 668,000 records, which cost £2.50 each.
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Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, admitted that “not all motorists are blameless”, but said the industry was “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”.
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “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.”
