Government to open technical consultation on fairer parking charges

News story

Consultation will seek views on the level of private parking charges, to help deliver a fair, proportionate and consistent system across the country.

The government is holding a further technical consultation on its proposed changes to parking charges, seeking views from motorists, parking operators and landowners on the level of private parking charges, to help deliver a fair, proportionate and consistent system across the country.

This is part of the government’s drive to introduce a fairer, clearer system for millions of motorists, with the introduction of a new Code of Practice for private operators.

Currently, private parking charges are capped at £100 by the industry, regardless of how serious the breach of terms and conditions. Following a consultation last year, government is proposing a tiered system for parking charges, similar to the local authority model, which is based on the severity of the offence and will cut excessive fines for motorists.

Local Government Minister Luke Hall said:

This government is making life easier for motorists as we get back to life as usual and build back better from the pandemic.

I encourage motorists and parking operators to share their views on our proposed Parking Code of Practice.

These changes will bring in a fairer system for drivers, creating a simplified appeals process and curbing excessive charges for millions of motorists.

The further technical consultation will run for four weeks during the summer.

The government understands that this will mean some changes for the private parking industry and will carefully consider all consultation responses when making a final decision.

Published 26 May 2021