Motorists using private car parks will no longer be penalised for delayed payment, as long as they pay before exiting, two industry bodies have announced.
The change comes after incidents, such as one reported by the BBC in November 2024, where a woman faced legal action over a £1,906 parking fine after poor mobile phone signal meant she repeatedly took more than five minutes to pay after entering a car park in Derby.
Previously, drivers could receive tickets if their payment wasn't processed within a specific timeframe after entering a car park.
The British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) confirmed an update to their code of conduct, effective from Monday, will introduce a "safeguard" for motorists experiencing payment delays.
This specifically applies to car parks using fixed cameras to monitor entry and exit times. Provided payment is made before leaving, drivers should no longer be issued with penalty notices.
The move aims to address situations where technical issues or other factors beyond the driver's control cause delays in payment processing.
The change, which will not apply to council-run car parks or those where wardens are deployed, is being made by a panel established by the industry bodies last month.
However, motoring groups reiterated their calls for a legislation-led code of practice to be introduced.
AA head of roads policy Jack Cousens said: “This change to the self-authored code by private parking operators only highlights the urgent necessity to implement the Government-backed code of practice alongside a truly independent single appeals process and oversight board.
“Until the statutory system is in place, drivers will continue to receive aggressive letters from shark-like companies that scare people into payment even though they may have done nothing wrong.”
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “This is the latest attempt to make the private parking industry look fair.
“As there’s no information on how the change will work in practice, we fear it will make little difference to drivers.”
A Bill to enable the introduction of a Government-backed code for private parking companies received royal assent under the Conservative government in March 2019.
It was withdrawn in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.
This code included halving the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, creating a fairer appeals system and banning the use of aggressive language on tickets.
The BPA and IPC’s own code of practice was introduced in June 2024.
Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.
Drivers in Britain are being hit by an average of more than 41,000 parking tickets a day by private companies.
Some 3.8 million tickets were handed out between July and September 2024, according to analysis of Government data by the PA news agency and motoring research charity the RAC Foundation.
Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be near £4.1 million per day.
