Private firms that run local car parks are set to issue a record 14.5 million tickets to drivers this year.
The number of requests for vehicle owner details sent to the DVLA has risen by 12% throughout the first half of the 2024/25 financial year.
During this period car park management companies have sent 7.2 million inquiries, or 41,000 each day, priced at £2.50 per request.
Recent DVLA data indicates that the latter half of the financial year will see almost 14.5 million drivers being sent parking charge notices valued at £100 if the current request pattern persists.
According to the RAC, a lack of surveillance could be contributing towards the spike in parking charges and facilitating unjust treatment of drivers, particularly since the withdrawal of the Private Parking Code of Practice in 2022.
Almost half of the 7.2 million vehicle keeper inquiries belonging to the 2024-25 financial year have been made by five companies: ParkingEye (1.1m), Euro Car Parks (891,600), Horizon Parking (439,896), Smart Parking (423,809) and APCOA Parking (367,465).
Furthermore, the ParkingEye’s total requests accounted for 16% of the final number recorded by the DVLA.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams commented: ‘As drivers don’t generally set out to break the rules, we fear more may be being treated unfairly by private parking companies that are still operating without government scrutiny.’ ‘Unfortunately, despite legislation being passed more than five years ago to prevent poor industry conduct, the Private Parking Code of Practice has never come into force due to a legal challenge.’
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