Parking fines to be capped at £50

Parking fines will be capped at £50 as the government clamps down on rogue parking firms.

Previously, fines of up to £100 could be handed out for minor offences, and that will now be capped at £50 across most areas of England, Wales and Scotland, although higher fines remain in place for more serious breaches.  

Minister for Levelling Up, Neil O’Brien said: “Private firms issue roughly 22,000 parking tickets every day, often adopting a system of misleading and confusing signing, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees designed to extort money from motorists.

“[Our] new Code of Practice will set out a clear vision with the interests of safe motorists at its heart, while cracking down on the worst offenders.”

Fresh measures proposed in the code also include the creation of a mandatory single appeals service and appeals charter that motorists can turn to if they feel they are unfairly fined.

Fines can be appealed or cancelled completely if motorists:

• have a mitigating reason for overstaying their parking ticket such as their vehicle breaking down
• have made a genuine innocent error, like keying in a digit in their number plate incorrectly
• have a valid ticket, permit or Blue Badge but failed to display it correctly

The number of parking fines in the UK has grown significantly in recent years, jumping from one million in 2010 to 8.4 million in 2019-20.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “These much-needed upgrades to private parking rules will give better protection to drivers.

“For too long, those caught by private parking firms simply pay the charge to get rid of it.

“Thankfully these days are numbered.”

The code also states:

• Motorists will be offered a 50% discount if they pay within 14 days.
• Parking debt collectors will be banned from adding additional excess fees to the level of the parking charge, currently as much as £70.
• A compulsory 10-minute grace period before firms can issue a late fine.
• A compulsory 5-minute cooling-off period in which a motorist can consider the terms and conditions and change their mind about parking.
• A crackdown on parking firms using aggressive or pseudo-legal language to intimidate motorists into paying fines.
• A requirement for parking firms to clearly display pricing and terms and conditions of parking, contact details and how to appeal a charge.

All the information about the new code of practice can be found online here.