British motorists are being hit with almost 36,000 parking tickets every day on average, with many calling for new rules on private parking companies to safeguard drivers.
New data has found that more than 3.3 million parking tickets were handed out this year between July and September alone.
This is a large 16 per cent rise compared to the 2.9 million tickets given out in the same period last year and represents a record daily average of 35,960.
With each parking ticket potentially costing drivers £100, parking companies could be raking in almost £3.6million every day at the current rate.
Drivers are charged £3.6million in fines every day
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Industry experts have accused private parking companies of taking advantage of motorists with overzealous fines, tight restrictions and very little protection for drivers.
A parking code of practice was originally intended to be rolled out in 2019 after new legislation was passed in Parliament, although the pandemic slowed the pace of its introduction.
The code was put before Parliament in February 2022 with plans to roll the rules out by the end of this year.
It aimed to make parking fairer for drivers including a cap on tickets for some parking offences to be halved to £50 and giving people a longer grace period to leave the car park after their ticket has expired.
However, a number of private parking companies launched legal action in response to the proposed changes, forcing the Government to withdraw the code in June 2022.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “We will all be hoping for good things in 2024 but perhaps those most looking forward to a happy new year are the large band of parking companies operating on private land.
“In March it will be five years since a law was enacted to introduce a Government-backed parking code of practice and an independent appeals service to better regulate the private parking sector, yet even now we don’t know when these will be introduced.
“This glacial pace has been a source of immense frustration to the millions of drivers heavily penalised for supposed infringements in private car parks and to all the MPs who, at the time the legislation was being debated, were queueing up to recount to Parliament the parking horror stories reported by their constituents.”
A call for evidence on the code of practice ended on October 8 earlier this year, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) looking to hear opinions from drivers and companies.
Parking groups are able to request vehicle owner records from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to issue fines to motorists for parking infringements.
A total of 178 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records in the three months to the end of September, with the DVLA charging £2.50 per record.
A spokesperson for the British Parking Association, which represents car park operators, said: “Motorists overwhelmingly benefit from well-managed and maintained car parks, ensuring easier journeys and better parking experiences.
“Enforcement is a key element of effective parking management, meaning that careless and selfish drivers don’t block spaces, park in blue badge zones or cause a nuisance to motorists that park with due care and attention.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We are carefully considering the responses to our recent call for evidence on the Private Parking Code of Practice and next steps will be set out in due course.
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A call for evidence on new parking rules ended earlier this year
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“The Government continues to work with the industry and consumer groups to reissue the Code as quickly as possible.”
