Figure is 29% higher than the previous year
Drivers received more than 11 million parking tickets on private land in the last financial year, official figures show.
This is an average of more than 30,000 every day.
According to the DVLA it sold 11,052,986 vehicle keeper records to car park management companies in 2022-23.
This is 29% higher than the 8,567,204 number in the previous year.
The records are used to send out parking charge notices (PCNs or ‘tickets’) to drivers and vehicle owners for supposed infringements of parking regulations on private land.
The number of tickets being issued has exploded since 2012 when wheel clamping on private land was all but outlawed.
However, there has been widespread political and public concern about the way some companies in the parking industry operate and in March 2019 the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill became law with the intention of creating a single code of practice, underwritten by ministers, for parking firms to abide by.
Alongside the code a single appeals service and a scrutiny board are due to be introduced.
However, the draft code was withdrawn last year after a legal challenge by parking firms and a new call for evidence on the level of parking charges and debt recovery fees was subsequently issued.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said:
“In the four-and-a-half years since legislation was passed to create a single code of practice and address the worst excesses of private parking companies, as many as 36 million private parking charges may have been issued.
“The ballooning rate at which the volume of vehicle keeper requests continues to grow is a clear sign that something is seriously awry, creating distress for drivers and hassle for legitimate parking managers alike.
“While some drivers will choose to flout the rules and risk being penalised, the vast majority are simply trying to do the right thing.
“As the private parking minister recognised recently, most motorists do not choose to break the rules deliberately.
“Amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis it is implausible that millions of drivers would knowingly want to risk running up a charge for as much as £100.
“Of course, Government needs to get the new private parking framework right after the false start it made last year, but surely that’s a task to be measured in weeks and months, not four-and-a-half years and counting.”
The code of practice, which was initially due to come into force across Britain by the end of 2023, stated that the cap on tickets for some parking offences should be halved to £50.
The DVLA figures show the number of records obtained from the agency by companies chasing car owners for alleged infringements in private car parks such as at shopping centres, leisure facilities and motorway service areas.
Some 183 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records in the year to the end of March.
ParkingEye was the most active, buying 2.1 million records.
The DVLA charges private companies £2.50 per record.
ENDS
Contact:
Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation
[email protected] | 07711 776448
Notes to editors:
The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users.
The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist. All the Foundation’s work is available at: www.racfoundation.org