Private parking companies set to issue 14.5 million PCNs this year
26 May 2025
Analysis of DVLA data by the RAC finds that private parking companies are on track to issue a record-breaking 14.5 million parking charge notices (PCNs) to drivers in 2025.
The data revealed that in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year, car park management companies sent 7.2 million requests for vehicle keeper details to the DVLA, equating to around 41,000 a day. This represents a 12 per cent increase on the same period in the year prior.
The withdrawal of the Private Parking Code of Practice in 2022 has meant the behaviour of private parking companies may not scrutinised as intended by the Act, which may be contributing to the increase in parking charge notices issued.
The British Parking Association and the International Parking Community published their own code of practice in October 2024, helping to tackle issues such as the five-minute rule under which drivers had just five minutes to pay for parking.
Further analysis of the data shows that five companies are responsible for 45 per cent of the requests to for vehicle keeper details in the first two quarters of the 2024-25 financial year. These are:
- ParkingEye 1.1 million requests
- Euro Car Parks 891,60 requests
- Horizon Parking 439,896 requests
- Smart Parking 423,809 requests
- APCOA Parking 367,465 requests.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said, “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”.
“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.”
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