Burnham Announces New Regulations to Eliminate Excessive Private Parking Fees

Drivers will gain the ability to contest unfair private parking fees and receive greater leniency when using private operators under the new regulations introduced by Andy Burnham.

The Prime Minister announced the measures following repeated complaints from motorists that penalties imposed by private parking firms are excessively harsh and result in unfair punishment.

For example, a woman faced a £1,906 court claim after exceeding the payment time by more than five minutes at a Derby car park; the charge was later withdrawn.

Although private car parks already adhere to an industry code of practice, the RAC motoring group stated that the government’s reforms will shield drivers from the shortcomings of certain private parking operators.

Burnham said, “Being a few minutes late returning to your vehicle or mistyping a single digit of your licence plate should not result in a hefty fine landing on your doorstep.”

“These charges leave people feeling ripped off and out of pocket, so I am putting a stop to them.”

The new rules will give drivers:

• a guaranteed five‑minute period to decide whether to park

• a ten‑minute window to leave without incurring a penalty

• cancellation of charges for issues beyond the driver’s control, such as vehicle breakdowns in car parks

• cancellation of charges for honest mistakes like stopping to check directions, as well as for medical emergencies or broken ticket machines

• maximum charges of £20 on appeal for slip‑ups such as forgetting a parking permit, entering the wrong vehicle registration, or failing to confirm the registration in the machine when parking

• a freeze on the maximum parking charge at £100, matching the limit in the current private parking Code of Practice

Operators who fail to comply risk losing access to DVLA data, making it considerably more difficult to pursue the vehicle’s owner even if they issue a charge.

Private car parks differ from council‑owned car parks and streets. RAC analysis of government data revealed a record 17 million private parking tickets were issued in 2025/2026 – a 17% increase over the previous year.

With each charge potentially reaching £100, the data, analysed by the Press Association and the RAC Foundation, indicates that drivers could collectively face private parking fees exceeding £4.6 million each day.

The yellow and black envelope of a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) remains a dreaded sight for motorists returning to their vehicles.

The AA has warned that some drivers pay up even when they have done nothing wrong, simply to avoid the hassle. It added that many motorists believe they would not receive a fair hearing if they appealed fines, with numerous respondents fearing legal action.

The current private parking industry Code of Practice, established by the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community, was introduced in 2024.

However, the growing sentiment among motorists that they have been unfairly penalised prompted the government to present a formalised code to Parliament.

The British Parking Association told the BBC it welcomed the changes, but noted that “many of the principles within the new framework are already reflected in the existing voluntary Code of Practice”.

The new Code will apply across England, Scotland and Wales after motorists expressed a desire for independent oversight of the private parking sector.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said drivers “finally have something which could offer them better protections against the worst private parking operators”. He added that, in the past, these firms have “aggressively targeted drivers to the point where many simply pay up”.

But the RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said the reforms do not go as far as his organisation had campaigned for. He called for the banning of debt recovery fees added on top of PCNs and urged that the current industry‑run appeals bodies be replaced by a single independent authority.

The government said it will be consulting on the issue of debt recovery fees, as well as other recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority.

Source link