Burnham vows end to 'rip-off parking charges' under new rules
Penalties are seen as too harsh on motorists who are penalised for parking on private land.
Key points
- The Prime Minister announced new rules for private car parks in England, Scotland and Wales.
- Drivers will get a guaranteed five minutes to decide whether to park and ten minutes to leave.
- A record 17 million private parking tickets were issued in 2025/2026, up 17% from a year earlier.
The Prime Minister, Burnham, has announced new rules for private car parks aimed at ending what he called "rip-off parking charges", after drivers repeatedly raised concerns that penalties from private providers were too harsh. The changes follow cases including a woman taken to court in a £1,906 claim after taking longer than five minutes to pay at a car park in Derby; the charge was eventually dropped.
The new Code will apply in England, Scotland and Wales after motorists said they wanted independent oversight of the private parking industry. The government will present a formalised code to Parliament.
What the new rules include
Drivers will get a guaranteed five-minute period to decide whether to park and a ten-minute window to leave without facing a penalty. Charges will be cancelled for issues drivers cannot control, such as vehicle breakdowns in car parks, and for honest mistakes such as stopping to check directions, as well as for medical emergencies or broken ticket machines.
Maximum charges on appeal will be £20 for slip-ups like forgetting a parking permit, entering the wrong vehicle registration, or forgetting to confirm the registration in the machine when parking. The maximum parking charge will be frozen at £100, the same limit as the current private parking Code of Practice. Operators who do not comply risk losing access to DVLA data, making it far more difficult to pursue the car's owner.
Being a few minutes late back to your car or typing one digit of your numberplate wrong shouldn't end with a hefty fine landing on your doormat.
— Burnham, the prime minister
Industry and driver group reaction
The British Parking Association told the BBC it welcomed the changes but said "many of the principles within the new framework are already reflected in the existing voluntary Code of Practice". The RAC said the changes would protect drivers from the "poor practices of some private parking companies".
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said drivers "finally have something which could offer them better protections against the worst private parking operators". The RAC's head of policy, Simon Williams, said it was not the leap his firm had campaigned for, calling for a ban on debt recovery fees added on top of Penalty Charge Notices and for a single independent appeals body. The government said it will consult on debt recovery fees and other recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority.
RAC analysis of government data showed a record 17 million private parking tickets were issued in 2025/2026, a 17% increase from a year earlier. With each charge worth up to £100, the data suggests drivers could collectively face private parking charges worth more than £4.6m each day.
