Drivers are to get longer to pay for car parking under new rules to be announced within weeks, The Telegraph understands.
The change will see private parking overhauled, with a newly-established panel overseeing how car park companies apply the self-regulating industry’s code of practice.
Will Hurley, the chief executive of the International Parking Community (IPC), suggested that the so-called “five minute rule”, which says that motorists must pay for parking within five minutes of arrival at a car park or risk a penalty charge, might change as soon as Feb 1 – although it has not yet been decided how long the extension will be.
Some 3.8 million parking tickets were handed out between July and September 2024, suggesting that drivers are being stung for £4.1 million a day in penalties, according to analysis of government data by the PA news agency and the RAC Foundation
Mr Hurley said the IPC and British Parking Association have formed a scrutiny panel to make changes to the code that “reflect technological developments”, such as poor mobile signal, making it impossible to use parking apps without walking elsewhere.
Speaking about the panel, Mr Hurley said: “Its first job will be to find a solution to this problem. The plan is to have that in place by Feb 1.”
Mr Hurley declined to say what the “solution” would be but said some local council car parks do not offer mobile app-based payment technology over fears that elderly motorists would be unable to use it.
Rod Dennis, the RAC’s senior policy officer, said: “The fact that the private parking industry is already having to review its own code, just months after it was introduced, shows it’s not working in drivers’ interests.
“This is yet another reason why the launch of the long-overdue official private parking code of practice, which became law five years ago, is very much needed.
“We fear that without this, drivers who use private car parks will continue to be worse off.”
Aggressive tactics
Parking companies have long been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, imposing unreasonable fees and using aggressive debt collection tactics.
It comes after a woman was sued for nearly £2,000 after taking more than five minutes to pay for using a car park thanks to poor mobile phone signal.
Rosey Hudson was taken to court for £1,906 in November after repeatedly taking more than five minutes to pay for using a car park in Derby because she did not have enough phone signal to operate its mobile app.
Excel Parking Ltd claimed that 10 penalty charge notices (PCNs) fining Ms Hudson £100 each were unpaid.
“I rang the company and explained the situation, and they basically said ‘you have to pay it’,” Ms Hudson told the BBC at the time, adding: “So to keep them off my back I did pay the initial parking fine.”
Yet Excel Parking added a £70 “debt recovery” charge to each PCN, interest at 8 per cent, a £115 court fee and £80 in legal costs, increasing the sum well beyond the £1,000 sum allegedly due for the PCNs alone.
The company claimed to the BBC in November that Ms Hudson was “the author of her own misfortune”.
Private parking was due to be regulated by law under the previous Conservative government.
Its legally-binding private parking code of practice was withdrawn in June 2022 after companies mounted a legal challenge against it.
The 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 current self-regulation rules, with a £100 cap on fines, were introduced in October last year.
