Seven years after Parliament told ministers to rein in private car park firms, the government's statutory parking code has finally been laid before Parliament.

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It gives drivers meaningful new protections, but leaves the headline £100 charge untouched and kicks the contentious issue of debt recovery fees into next year.

Why this matters to you

If you have ever returned from the supermarket, a hospital or a motorway service station to find a letter demanding £100 for overstaying by a few minutes, this one is for you.

Private parking firms made a record 16.9 million requests to the DVLA for registered-keeper details in 2025/26, according to RAC Foundation analysis of government data. That is an increase of around 17% in a year and roughly two and a half times the 6.8 million requests recorded in 2018/19.

These requests are commonly used to identify vehicle keepers so parking charges can be pursued. However, they are not a direct count of tickets issued or letters sent.

The government's new Private Parking Code of Practice is intended to establish a common set of rules for private parking operators across England, Scotland and Wales.

It covers matters such as parking charges, signage, grace periods and appeals.

Crucially, operators that breach the code could ultimately lose access to DVLA data, making it much harder for them to identify registered keepers and pursue charges.

Council parking penalties are not covered. This is about parking on private land, such as supermarket car parks, hospital car parks and privately operated motorway service stations.

Seven years of waiting

The story starts in March 2019, when Sir Greg Knight's Parking (Code of Practice) Act became law with cross-party support. It placed a duty on the government to introduce a statutory code for private parking operators.

That code arrived in February 2022. It was tough: charges were capped at £50 for most breaches, with higher charges of up to £100 for more serious breaches, and debt recovery fees were banned.But the code was withdrawn in June 2022 following legal challenges from parking and debt recovery businesses, while the government reviewed the proposed charge levels.While the statutory code was on ice, the industry developed its own rules. The British Parking Association and International Parking Community introduced a single industry code in October 2024, including a ten-minute grace period after a parking session ends, clearer signage requirements and provisions for appeals. Existing operators were given a transition period, with full implementation scheduled by the end of........

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