A record 16.9 million private parking tickets were issued in the UK in the year to the end of March 2026, according to analysis of Government data by the Press Association and the RAC Foundation. This is up from 14.4 million a year earlier and 6.8 million in 2018/19.
The rise has prompted calls for Andy Burnham's government to stop the DVLA from selling drivers' information to the parking industry at £2.50 per request. Consumer rights expert Scott Dixon, known as The Complaints Resolver, said: “Enough is enough. Drivers deserve fairness. This unregulated private parking industry is potentially worth over £1.5bn a year and is out of control.”
Calls to Raise DVLA Fee and Introduce Code of Practice
Dixon called on the DVLA to charge £25 per request for driver records, instead of the current £2.50 fee, and to introduce a code of practice that effectively regulates the industry. He said it was “hard to believe” that 46,000 motorists were knowingly breaking the rules each day.
Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be more than £4.6 million per day at the current rate. Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.
Delayed Code of Practice and Legal Challenges
A Bill to enable the introduction of a code of practice for the industry received royal assent in March 2019. The code, due to come into force across Britain by the end of 2023, 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. It was withdrawn by the Conservative government in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.
A new consultation on the code by the current Labour Government closed in September 2025. The delay in the introduction of a legislation-backed code of conduct has now reached seven years.
Industry and Government Responses
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “In the period since parliament unequivocally recognised the need for reform of the private parking industry, some 76 million tickets have been issued in total – an average of well over two for every car in the country. Andy Burnham has plenty of big things to worry about, but if his Government could get round to fixing this problem, millions of drivers would have one less thing on their minds.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We agree that we need to drive up standards across the private parking industry. That’s why we’re committed to bringing in a strong parking Code of Practice as quickly as we can to protect motorists.”
Some 204 parking management businesses requested vehicle owner records in 2025/26. ParkingEye was the most active, buying 2.5 million records. Private companies are charged £2.50 per record by the DVLA, which says its fees recover the cost of providing the information and it does not make any money from the process.
Isaac Occhipinti, of industry body the British Parking Association, said: “The suggestion that rising parking charge numbers are, in themselves, evidence of a failing system is misleading and ignores the wider picture. The increase reflects the growing number of private car parks being professionally managed across the retail, healthcare, residential and transport sectors, as well as increasing demand for parking. Enforcement action is only required in a small minority of cases where parking terms and conditions have not been followed.” He added that the sector “has not stood still” and noted that it introduced its own code of practice in 2024.
