A new independent panel aims to prevent motorists from getting fined by private car parking companies unfairly.
Sadiq Khan, the transport minister, stated that self-regulation is not working correctly in the UK and that the government should step in. At the moment the private car parking industry is hardly regulated and there is not an independent adjudicator.
Drivers complain on a consistent basis that the private car companies use unscrupulous tactics and threaten county court judgements without any accountability.
Tracey Tremlett, a driver who received a ticket while visiting a restaurant stated that she was told that she was parked illegally for 60,235 minutes and threatened with a judgement. She also stated that even though she knew she was not in the wrong since she had only visited the restaurant twice she was scared to read the notice in the post.
At the moment the UK has around 26,000 permanent car parks with most complaints stemming from people who were parked on these sites. However, the new calls for reform tackle the entire private parking industry.
Sources from the AA stated that the industry is allowed to run ‘amok.’ Paul Walters of the AA stated that the problem is growing at a rapid rate as the industry attempts to extort higher amounts of money from the public.
Even the chief executive of the British Parking Association, Patrick Troy, stated that there needs to be a better system in place because there are not any laws that force car park operators to follow a code of practice.
