Burnham vows end to ‘rip-off parking charges’ under new rules

The government’s Private Parking Code of Practice has been seven years in the making.

In 2019, an act of Parliament was passed to create a code but the code was withdrawn in 2022, due to “resistance from the private parking industry”, according to the RAC.

The current industry Code of Practice, created by the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community, was introduced in 2024 and updated last year after a review.

Angela Rayner, communities and housing secretary, told BBC Breakfast that parking “shouldn’t be a way of making money, quite frankly”.

Asked if the changes were an admission that motorists have been “ripped off” by parking companies for years, she said: “We’re calling time on it. They have regulated themselves and they have their appeals process but we’re giving it more meat now.”

Asked why the government has not called for lower price caps on fines, Rayner said: “We’ve frozen them now and what we’re saying is that there is a proportionate response to when people don’t follow the rules when they are parking.”

Derek Millard-Smith from the British Parking Association told BBC Breakfast the group welcomed the changes as it would “increase trust”.

When asked about calls to drop the cost of fines, he said that “deterrents work”.

“We know dog fouling, rail fare dodging, littering – all those levels are around £100 or more because that is a level that is deemed sufficient to change behaviours.

“What we are trying to do is educate people so they don’t do what we don’t want them to do.”

The new code will apply in England, Scotland and Wales after motorists said they wanted independent oversight of the private parking industry.