Protecting drivers from unfair penalties
It is more than seven years since I first raised with the then Tory government potential delays with the introduction of the Parking Code of Conduct. This should have been a straightforward task, to protect drivers from unscrupulous private parking providers, a task which they completely failed to complete in five years of government.
Too often since then, I have been contacted by constituents affected by these unfair practices.
The Labour government has now laid the new Parking Code of Conduct before Parliament, giving drivers new rights to challenge unfair private parking charges. Under the new Code, charges will be scrapped on appeal for honest mistakes, like stopping briefly to check directions, and for situations like a medical emergency, breakdown or broken ticket machine. There will be a guaranteed 5 minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave a carp park without facing a penalty.
Parking companies which do not comply with the Code can lose access to DVLA data, which will make it much harder to pursue payment.
The full code can be accessed here.
