Parking Code of Practice Consultation - 8 weeks from 11th July 2025

Coupon-mad

Let's use this thread to discuss the questions and how to meaningfully respond:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/private-parking-code-of-practice

Note that I have some concerns about possible omissions and confusion in the 56 page Options Assessment, which I've mentioned here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81593749/#Comment_81593749

Please note you don't have to answer every question and do not have to supply data but CASE EVIDENCE IS GOOD, such as DRA letters you were bombarded with, that prove they only offer payment plans and NOT 'resolution' of disputes.

If you have time and really want to dig deeper and understand what the Government are proposing, read the 56 page Options Assessment linked with the Consultation above.  Using the ou can start the Consultation and save it and come back to it another day, which is what I'm doing.

If you have limited time and/or only want to answer questions about banning DR fees and the fact that motorists must have a Single Appeals Service, you can of course go straight to the Consultation and do it much more quickly!

The Government will much prefer responses to be provided using Citizen Space, so avoid what looks like the easy option of post or email as that is likely to make it harder for them to process the survey quickly due to the manual process they will face to add individual replies.

Your answers are your own opinion and we aren't going into the realms of template replies which would defeat the object of any Consultation, but if you want guidance, including which questions to leave blank, my initial thoughts about each question are as follows:

Q1 and 2 are self explanatory.
Questions 3-6 are for For parking operators only.

I've given some guidance on questions 7, 8 and 9 here: 

Caps on parking charges:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81598754/#Comment_81598754

More will be added as links in this post this week so please bookmark the thread and come back!

Thorndorise

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/private-parking-code-of-practice?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=df2e4397-6fd6-44c4-b12a-b85ae15ccb78&utm_content=immediately

Open consultation

Private parking code of practice​

Summary

​​We are seeking views on proposals to raise standards across the private parking industry ahead of preparing a new code of practice.

This consultation closes at
11:59pm on 5 September 2025

Consultation description

​​The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 (the Act) requires the Secretary of State to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities. The Act is applicable across England, Scotland and Wales.  

​The government’s code of practice contains:

• guidance that promotes good practice in the operation and management of private parking facilities
• guidance about appeals against private parking charges imposed by, or on behalf of, persons providing private parking facilities 

This consultation seeks views on the government proposed measures aimed at raising standards in the private parking industry before launching the Code of Practice.  

​This is a public consultation and we welcome views from anyone who has an interest in private parking. However, views are especially invited from:

• car park users
• those who represent the interests of motorists
• the parking industry
• landowners
• businesses involved in debt recovery

Discuss....!

Thorndorise

Link to the new code here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/private-parking-code-of-practice/private-parking-code-of-practice

Annex A: proposed minor corrections/clarifications to the withdrawn code here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/686bf108fe1a249e937cbdb2/private-parking-consultation-annex-a.pdf

Options assessment here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/686d45d281dd8f70f5de3cac/private-parking-consultation-options-assessment.pdf


Online survey of responses: https://consult.communities.gov.uk/off-road-parking-team/private-parking-code-of-practice-consultation/

OR Downloadable questions: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/686be7d9a08d3a3ca3b67845/private-parking-consultation-questions.pdf

Coupon-mad

Beat you to the thread!

bargepole

I've had a quick skim-read of this, and once again, it is a complete fudge.

The parking charge may be capped at £100, or a lower amount.

The debt recovery fees look like they will remain, but possibly at a lower level than the £70.

The discount for early payment may remain ay 40% or possibly 50%

They say they don't have enough evidence to make decisions on these issues, hence yet another consultation. The reality is that they have had shedloads of evidence over the past 7 years since the Act became law, but have dragged their heels, and have given far too much credibility to the lies and spin of the parking industry.

This consultation runs for 8 weeks, then probably another few months while they collate and analyse all the responses. Which means that it will probably be another 2 years before the statutory CoP is passed by Parliament, and the final version won't be vastly different from the existing BPA and IPC codes.

I really can't be bothered with this any more, it's much more satisfying to defeat the scammers in contested court hearings, where I win nearly every time.

daveyjp

I've also had a quick skim and it should be stamped 'sponsored by the BPA'.

Very little of the consultation gets near any of the fundamental issues needed to fix a system which is broken.

Car1980

The Withdrawn Code stated that signs displaying terms and conditions should be sufficiently large to be visible from a distance and legible on approach. This will be retained in the proposed Code. However, the government proposes to remove the reference to best practice being that signs should be at least 60cm x 80cm. This is because the government recognises the feedback from industry that not all sites are the same, and that requiring all signs to be the same size takes away the flexibility that individual sites need. The government proposes to include standards for information that entrance signs must contain, including text size, legibility in all light conditions, and location of signs (in line with section 3.1 of the Withdrawn Code). The Certification Scheme will ensure that signage meets those requirements.

Ah, it suddenly makes sense.

Make the signage a minimum of 60 x 80cm and what does the parking company do? Increase the number of words so that the overall effect is to effectively shrink the sign 

ChirpyChicken

And an interesting take here 
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/367325/parking-fines-rise-govt-cosies-operators-code-practice-review

Le_Kirk

bargepole said:

This consultation runs for 8 weeks, then probably another few months while they collate and analyse all the responses. Which means that it will probably be another 2 years before the statutory CoP is passed by Parliament, and the final version won't be vastly different from the existing BPA and IPC codes.

....... by which time, we might have another new Government and will have to start all over again.

1505grandad

Annex B:-

". This level of profit is indicative of high market power. As a point of comparison, the Call for Evidence finds a net profit margin for BPA operators of 18.9% and 14.5% for IPC members. Whilst there may be justification for such high profit levels, for example for highly innovative companies, the lack of market mechanisms around setting the DRF suggest this level of profit should at the very least be a concern."

Too much to hope I suppose that HMRC would look at this "concern" so that VAT should be included?

Kaizen2024

Someone has messed up on an excel sheet formula there, DRA’s do not have a 63% profit margin