Parking firms hand out record fines ahead of new regulations

PARKING “cowboys” have been told they must play by the rules or risk being put out of business as MPS yesterday backed tougher new rules.

New figures out yesterday showed how private parking firms are dishing out record fines to motorists ahead of the new legislation, with 18,000 tickets being issued every day.

Government figures show 1.7million vehicle owner records were requested by parking management firms in the second quarter of the financial year, the highest ever for a three-month period.

News of the rise came as a Govern- ment-backed Private Member’s Bill calling for a mandatory code of conduct for private car park operators sailed through the Commons. If the Lords pass it, the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill will prevent the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) from handing over vehicle keeper details.

It would also simplify the process of appealing against unfair fines such as those imposed when motorists misread unclear signs.

MP Pete Wishart, of the SNP, told the Commons: “This bill can’t come soon enough. We need a firm code of practice that will constrain the worst excesses of these private parking companies. They act, until this Bill, as a law unto themselves. They harass and frustrate our constituents and they drive away tourists. I hope this is ‘high noon’ for the parking cowboys.”

The code builds on action already taken to restrict rogue private parking operators, including the banning of wheel clamping and towing. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, said: “For too long drivers have suffered from unjust fines at the hands of dodgy parking firms. This government is putting the brakes on these rogue operators.”

Steve Gooding, of the RAC, said: “It is inconceivable that 18,000 drivers a day are knowingly setting out to ignore parking rules and attract penalties of up to £100. Are they really failing to understand the rules, or are many being pursued on the flimsiest of grounds?”

Proposing the Bill, Tory MP Sir Greg Knight said: “It will stop some of the outrageous practices. I know of a pensioner who keyed her car registration into a ticket machine and put a zero instead of an ‘O’ and got a penalty ticket... she appealed but still had to pay.”

During the Bill’s third Commons reading, Sir Greg said: “I think the message today from this chamber is loud and clear to cowboy parking operators, in future, you play by the rules or [are] put out of business.”

18,000 Number of fines imposed daily on drivers ahead of new government rules to restrict parking operators’ rogue practices