Motorists furious over five-year wait for new parking rule changes amid ‘severe misgivings’

Four in five drivers have been left furious over new parking rules not coming into force despite having already passed through Parliament.

A new survey found that 84 per cent of motorists agreed it was “not right” that the Government-backed Code of Practice for private parking companies had not yet been introduced.

The Code, which was due to come into force at the end of 2023, received Royal Assent under the Conservative Government in March 2019 but was withdrawn in June 2022 following a legal challenge by parking companies.

Measures included in the Code would have seen laws to drop the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, aimed to create a fairer appeals system and ban the use of aggressive language on tickets

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The need for regulation comes as private parking companies rake in billions due to misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.

A recent survey revealed that more than half (55 per cent) of drivers agreed that parking companies’ “enforcement policies are too heavy-handed” with just 18 per cent believing the operators are “necessary to stop a parking free-for-all”.

In June, industry bodies including the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community published a new Code of Practice, although the RAC claims it “differs substantially from the proposed official Government Code”.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “It’s blatantly apparent from our research that drivers continue to have severe misgivings about the way private parking companies operate, and are therefore very frustrated that the official Government-backed Code of Practice has still not been introduced more than five years after it became law.

“While this lack of trust may be partly addressed by the launch of the industry’s own Code of Practice, we suspect it’s unlikely to be enough as it’s not worded to be in the interest of drivers and, crucially, isn’t backed by law.

“We feel only the introduction of the real, Government-backed Code will bring much-needed fairness to the entire private parking sector.”

Despite this, Isaac Occhipinti, head of external affairs for the BPA, defended the Code, saying it “meets nearly all the requirements set out by the withdrawn Government Code”.

He criticised motoring groups like the RAC for their approach, stating they seem to have a “disparaging comment every time parking is mentioned but never a constructive one”.

Occhipinti added: “Their rhetoric is about reducing the level of the deterrent which will only help motorists that break the rules, and will lead to worse outcomes for the 99.7 per cent of motorists who don’t get a parking charge.”

In November, it emerged that drivers have been hit by an average of more than 41,000 parking tickets a day by private companies.

Each parking ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be nearly £4.1million per day at the current rate, the RAC noted.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Motorists must be protected when using private car parks and we are determined to drive up standards in the industry.

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“We will set out further details on the private parking code of practice as soon as possible.”