Private parking firms on track to hand out 14.5m tickets in a year – analysis

Private parking companies are on course to issue a record 14.5 million tickets to drivers in Britain in a year, according to new analysis.

The RAC, which conducted the study, said just five businesses are responsible for nearly half of all tickets issued.

It found requests to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) by car park management companies reached 7.2 million in the six months to the end of September 2024.

That is up 12% from the same period a year earlier and represents an average of 41,000 requests per day.

If the rate continued for the following six months, 14.5 million tickets will have been issued over a year, the RAC said.

Private companies chase vehicle owners for alleged infringements in private car parks, such as at shopping centres, leisure facilities and motorway service areas.

Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be near £4.1 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.

An investigation by the PA news agency earlier this week found drivers across England say they are being sent tickets because of faulty machines, which one campaigner claiming the devices are “set up to trap people”.

A Bill to enable the introduction of a Government-backed code for private parking companies received royal assent under the Conservative government in March 2019.

The code was withdrawn in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “It’s very concerning that private parking firms are growing and on track to issue a record 14.5 million parking charge notices to drivers in the space of just 12 months.

“As drivers don’t generally set out to break the rules, we fear many are being treated unfairly by private parking companies that are still operating without Government scrutiny.”

A survey in August last year commissioned by the RAC indicated four out of five drivers are frustrated the Government-backed code of practice is still not in force.

Mr Williams said the Government is “committed to getting the official code across the line” but warned “this needs to happen as quickly as possible” given the rate the number of parking tickets being issued is rising.

The five companies which issued 45% of tickets between April and September last year were ParkingEye (1,129,000), Euro Car Parks (892,000), Horizon Parking (440,000), Smart Parking (424,000) and APCOA Parking (367,000).

The DVLA charges private companies £2.50 per record.

The agency says its fees are set to recover the cost of providing the information and it does not make any money from the process.

The British Parking Association and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have been approached for a comment.