British drivers are set to be hit by record levels of private parking fines this year, the RAC has warned.

Parking management companies made the equivalent of 41,000 requests a day for vehicle keeper details in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year

Analysis of DVLA data by the RAC found car park management companies made 7.2 million requests for vehicle keeper details in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year.

That’s equivalent to 41,000 requests a day – or a parking ticket every two seconds – and a 12% increase on the same period 12 months before (6.5 million).

If this trend continues when figures for the second half of the year are published, nearly 14.5 million drivers will have been sent £100 parking charge notices for alleged parking contraventions, equating to £1.4bn, according to the RAC. This would be more than double the number dished out six years ago (2018-19), just before the Government passed an Act of Parliament intended to clamp down on rogue private parking operators.

The Private Parking Code of Practice was withdrawn in 2022 following legal challenges from private parking and debt recovery companies – and the RAC said this has meant the behaviour of private parking companies “has not been scrutinised as intended by the Act, which may be part of the reason why so many more parking charge notices have been issued”.

The two private parking trade associations – the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community – published their own code of practice in October 2024 which the RAC believes once again demonstrates the need for the government-backed code.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “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.

“Eight in 10 drivers we surveyed were frustrated by this, but we know the Government is committed to getting the official code across the line. We believe this needs to happen as quickly as possible, particularly as the number of parking charge notices issued has more than doubled since the law was passed to introduce the code in 2019.”

Further analysis of the DVLA data shows that just five companies are responsible for making nearly half (45%) of the 7.2m requests to the DVLA for vehicle keeper details in the first two quarters of the 2024-25 financial year. These are ParkingEye (1.1 million), Euro Car Parks (891,600), Horizon Parking (439,896), Smart Parking (423,809) and APCOA Parking (367,465). ParkingEye was responsible for 16% of the total, and just 10 companies made nearly two-thirds (64% – 4.6 million) of all the requests to the DVLA. Each request costs £2.50 to make.

However, the International Parking Community (IPC) trade association has refuted the RAC’s findings and accused it of “choosing headlines over dialogue”.

The IPC said the number of parking charges issued is directly linked to the 475% increase in land being professionally managed since 2012. This, in conjunction with the mounting pressure, due to an increase in vehicles parking across commercial, residential and public-use land.

It also pointed to DVLA data that shows registered vehicles have increased 20.8% since 2012, with 34.5 million vehicles licensed for use on the roads in 2012, increasing to 41.7 million in 2024.

The IPC said: “More land under management combined with more vehicles on the roads naturally leads to more enforcement, an essential tool in ensuring access, fairness, and proper usage for all.”

The trade body also said  over 35% of all parking charges are issued to repeat offenders, “highlighting a persistent pattern of non-compliance among a minority of motorists who disregard clearly signposted terms and conditions for their own convenience”.

To help drivers, the RAC has published a detailed guide on how to appeal both private parking charge notices and penalty charge notices issued by councils.

Simon Williams went on: “If anyone feels they’ve been wrongly told to pay £100 by a car park management company, they should challenge it. With firms prone to sending debt collection letters after 28 days and then threatening court action, we realise the process can be pretty daunting, which is why we’ve published a step-by-step guide on what to do at each stage. We hope this will help drivers get unjustified parking charge notices cancelled.”