A penalty charge notice on a car
THE private parking industry is being urged to “come clean” about how often drivers get unfair tickets overturned.
Boosting transparency would either show how bad the situation is or give drivers confidence that complaints are dealt with reasonably, the RAC said.
Analysis by the motoring group found that the two official appeals bodies publish only limited and often outdated data.
Parking on Private Land Appeals has yet to publish its report for the year ending September 2024, while the Independent Appeals Service has not disclosed how many cases it upheld or rejected in its latest report.
The last available data from the IAS in 2021-22 showed that 94 per cent of appeals were rejected.
A record 14.4 million tickets were issued by private firms in the year to March, up 13 per cent from 12.8 million the year before.
RAC policy chief Simon Williams said: “The industry claims there isn’t an issue with tickets being issued unfairly as drivers can get them overturned when they appeal.
“But stories of drivers being treated poorly are all too common … We urge them to come clean and publish all their complaints data voluntarily.”
The government is currently consulting on a code of practice for the sector.
Farage's promise to remove two-child benefit cap for British families by cutting asylum-seeker accommodation and net zero projects branded ‘absurd’
