Members of Parliament have warned Labour that private car parks should not be self-regulated and that urgent action is required after numerous cases of unfair fines were revealed.
Baggy Shanker, who represents Derby South, and other MPs are now actively calling on constituents around the country to bring forward cases of parking fine misuse.
It comes after "more and more" complaints have been brought to light about private car parks fining drivers for trivial things such as breaking the five-minute window.
In one case, a driver received a £2,000 penalty for taking longer than five minutes to pay for parking, a fine which sparked national outrage.
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In response to the huge fine, Shanker, alongside 11 other MPs, has called for legal action from the Government to introduce its own statutory Code of Practice instead of the existing measures rolled out by the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC).
Shanker told the BBC: "It's obvious from the enquiries we're getting now in Derby - and other colleagues are getting across the country - the voluntary code just simply isn't working.
"They've come up with a set of practices that they say they will adhere to, and it's obvious they're not strong enough and they're not being adhered to properly, so the only way we feel this can be resolved is to have a mandatory code."
He explained that one of his colleagues also received a parking fine for taking more than five minutes to pay, prompting the MP to take action.
He added: "Basically she'd parked, taken her children to Jumpin Fun, and on another occasion her husband had parked there, and her parents had parked there. It took them more than five minutes [to pay] because of the equipment being poor."
A common occurrence with parking fines is drivers' unwillingness to challenge them, Shanker claimed. The colleague and her relatives resorted to paying the £60 penalty charge notice out of fear of taking the case to court.
In a letter to Local Growth Minister Alex Norris, the MPs warned: "We believe that relying on self-regulation is insufficient.
"Time and again, statutory regulation has proven the most effective way to protect consumers in other sectors such as banking, energy, and telecommunications. It is clear that the same approach must be applied to the private parking industry.
"Contributing factors beyond their control include unclear or misleading signage, malfunctioning payment machines, and insufficient alternative methods for purchasing tickets."
In response to the backlash, the BPA and IPC created a scrutiny committee that hopes to provide impartial oversight into the Private Parking Code and handle cases where drivers have been ripped off in parking fines.
Scott Dixon, Consumer Champion and Motoring Disputes Expert, shared on social media that the DVLA should charge private parking firms £20 to request driver information, not £2.50.
He added: "They ought to clamp down on how personal data is misused by these parasites who use legalese jargon and intimidating tactics to extract money with menaces. It's a money-making racket."
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Will Hurley, chief executive of the IPC, said that the organisation wants to help the Government deliver its single Code of Practice and "have been supportive of that from the very beginning".
Isaac Occhipinti, head of external affairs at the BPA added: "We are actually going to be meeting a number of MPs in a couple of weeks' time to discuss what potential changes we could make to the Code of Practice, because I think that's probably a quicker way to actually get changes to happen than to wait for the Government Code of Practice."
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Baggy Shanker, who represents Derby South, and other MPs are now actively calling on constituents around the country to bring forward cases of parking fine misuse.
It comes after "more and more" complaints have been brought to light about private car parks fining drivers for trivial things such as breaking the five-minute window.
In one case, a driver received a £2,000 penalty for taking longer than five minutes to pay for parking, a fine which sparked national outrage.
Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
In response to the huge fine, Shanker, alongside 11 other MPs, has called for legal action from the Government to introduce its own statutory Code of Practice instead of the existing measures rolled out by the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC).
Shanker told the BBC: "It's obvious from the enquiries we're getting now in Derby - and other colleagues are getting across the country - the voluntary code just simply isn't working.
"They've come up with a set of practices that they say they will adhere to, and it's obvious they're not strong enough and they're not being adhered to properly, so the only way we feel this can be resolved is to have a mandatory code."
He explained that one of his colleagues also received a parking fine for taking more than five minutes to pay, prompting the MP to take action.
He added: "Basically she'd parked, taken her children to Jumpin Fun, and on another occasion her husband had parked there, and her parents had parked there. It took them more than five minutes [to pay] because of the equipment being poor."
A common occurrence with parking fines is drivers' unwillingness to challenge them, Shanker claimed. The colleague and her relatives resorted to paying the £60 penalty charge notice out of fear of taking the case to court.
In a letter to Local Growth Minister Alex Norris, the MPs warned: "We believe that relying on self-regulation is insufficient.
"Time and again, statutory regulation has proven the most effective way to protect consumers in other sectors such as banking, energy, and telecommunications. It is clear that the same approach must be applied to the private parking industry.
"Contributing factors beyond their control include unclear or misleading signage, malfunctioning payment machines, and insufficient alternative methods for purchasing tickets."
In response to the backlash, the BPA and IPC created a scrutiny committee that hopes to provide impartial oversight into the Private Parking Code and handle cases where drivers have been ripped off in parking fines.
Scott Dixon, Consumer Champion and Motoring Disputes Expert, shared on social media that the DVLA should charge private parking firms £20 to request driver information, not £2.50.
He added: "They ought to clamp down on how personal data is misused by these parasites who use legalese jargon and intimidating tactics to extract money with menaces. It's a money-making racket."
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Will Hurley, chief executive of the IPC, said that the organisation wants to help the Government deliver its single Code of Practice and "have been supportive of that from the very beginning".
Isaac Occhipinti, head of external affairs at the BPA added: "We are actually going to be meeting a number of MPs in a couple of weeks' time to discuss what potential changes we could make to the Code of Practice, because I think that's probably a quicker way to actually get changes to happen than to wait for the Government Code of Practice."
Find Out More...