Parking Code of Practice Consultation 2025 - now let's see what happens

Kaizen2024

Thorndorise said:

Castle said:

Le_Kirk said:

I made the point that the PPC knows the VRM of every car in the car park, otherwise they wouldn't be able to ask DVLA for keeper details and should therefore, at their PDT or payment app stage be able to match a VRM with the details input by the motorist and, if different, do not allow the motorist to continue until the VRM is corrected!  Of course, that way no PCNs can be issued!

This assumes that the VRM was correctly recorded in the first place by the PPC's ANPR camera; it is also possible that the vehicle was missed entirely when it entered.

I've seen plenty of sites that actually use proper ANPR with video capture that allow you to enter your VRM, then the matches to the closest (ideally yours) with the image...that removes the issue with them not checking - and I don't really think too onerous on the user either?

Just a thought - I don't but Kaizen's comment that the terminals are few and far between or prohibitively expensive (it's not like they haven't got stacks of cash to 'reinvest' into sites is it)!!!

They are viable in very busy locations only, and Highview hold the patent for the system you have referred to; so not available to all.

Coupon-mad

It is available to all and/or they could do a 'fuzzy data matching' check.

The fact that a remedy which acts in the interests of consumers (and meets the CRA 2015 test of fairness) "costs more money, waaah!" isn't a justification for not complying with a Code of Practice or rule of law

delabc

Maybe I'm naive as I'm new to this subject but I still can't see what's wrong, where ANPR cameras are in use, in allowing (or mandating) payment after the event (and I mean 24 hours or more later), on the operator's website, app or by telephone. By all means have payment on site as well via a machine but there's no need to. Nobody digitally excluded and those without any form of mobile phone (and I personally know one or two) are not excluded either. On the Epping Forest car park, where I'm currently disputing a charge, ANPR is in operation but they require payment in advance for an estimated time (particularly difficult for a recreational area) by only two means - via the flawed RingGo app or via an alternative telephone number, and I don't know how well that works. So those without a mobile phone (or with a weak mobile signal) are excluded from using the car park. I haven't been able to find a definition of "digitally excluded" in the Code but I assume it doesn't include those without a mobile phone as otherwise the Epping Forest site would not comply. If later payment is allowed, it could be done from a landline so it's more inclusive. Where ANPR is in place, the operator has all the data they need to allow payment after the event. The only reason I can think of why they don't is because the current system generates loads of juicy PCNs for them.

If I'm wrong about this could someone please enlighten me.

Coupon-mad

The only reason I can think of why they don't is because the current system generates loads of juicy PCNs for them.

You are not wrong. PPCs generally don't get paid by landowners. They offer their dubious services like a protection racket.

grassmarket

Coupon-mad said:

Coupon-mad said:

Yes, I just got an official email:

This email is to update you that the Private Parking Consultation will be extended for 3 weeks, closing at midnight on Friday 26 September 2025.

Haha, not yet. I wasn't surprised.

The Labour chaos and Angela Rayner stepping down today means a Housing Dept reshuffle which has already seen Steve Reed OBE shipped in as Secretary of State and in my experience that means he might want to move the deckchairs in the MHCLG yet again. We might even see a different Minister take on parking. Who knows?

Even if not, it will inevitably delay things this month, so it makes sense to extend the Consultation until the dust settles.

I think you’ll find the real reason for the deadline extension has nothing to do with politics & everything to do with the STRIKE at MHCLG. All PCS staff are on strike 1/9 plus targeted PCS walkout 2-25/9. That’s far more likely to have an impact right now, than any ‘shifting around the deckchairs on the Titanic’ at the top. In the real world - MHCLG need real people ‘at the coal face’ to analyse all the responses - long before any Minister would ever get involved! 

They’ve got time for plenty more deckchair-shifting before then….

patient_dream

"PPCs generally don't get paid by landowners. They offer their dubious services like a protection racket."!

BUT ......... how much do parking companies pay the landowner to farm their land either cash in hand or in kind ?  

delabc

I assume that PPCs get paid by the landowner for doing their day job, ie collecting parking fees and handing them over to the landowner? Are you saying that the PPCs keep all the money they generate from PCNs?

Umkomaas

delabc said:

I assume that PPCs get paid by the landowner for doing their day job, ie collecting parking fees and handing them over to the landowner? Are you saying that the PPCs keep all the money they generate from PCNs?

Absolutely. In some cases they do pay a small backhander to the landowner based on the number of PCNs paid, sometimes based on PCNs issued. 

In some other cases, most notably the game-changing Beavis case, ParkingEye were actually paying the landowner £1,000 per week to allow them to 'manage' (issue tickets!) the car park as its proximity to the local railway station (commuter route to London) offered them a spectacular opportunity to gouge motorists.  No doubt having quickly cleared the car park of the bilking train users, their attention would have to focus on genuine shoppers - Barry Beavis being one of those!

1505grandad

" Are you saying that the PPCs keep all the money they generate from PCNs?"

And very profitable it is for them (and the DVLA) too:-

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/private-parking-firms-on-track-to-issue-nearly-14.5m-tickets/

"If this trend continues when figures for the second half of the year are published, nearly 14.5m drivers will have been sent £100 parking charge notices for alleged parking contraventions, equating to £1.4bn. 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."

bill6262

When you put your car reg in the machine why can't they design the machine so it confirms the vehicle your inputting is the correct reg by confirming it like it does when you do a vehicle search with a reg number on the gov site like