In a bid to ensure drivers are treated fairly by private parking companies the RAC is calling on the industry to publish ‘full and transparent’ complaints data to back up its claims that drivers who challenge tickets do often succeed.
Currently the industry’s two trade associations – the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) – don’t publish any information about the number of complaints member companies receive about the ‘parking charge notices’ they issue and, importantly, how many they then cancel.
The RAC says that there is also a lack of data relating to the second-stage appeals process which is used by unhappy drivers after their cases have been refused by car park management companies. The two appeals bodies only publish very limited data, some of which is out of date and some of which lacks key information about the percentage of appeals that are allowed and refused.
For example, the BPA’s Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) is still yet to publish its annual report for 2024 which covers 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024, while the IPC’s Independent Appeals Service (IAS), which has published its 2024 report, fails to reveal how many appeals were allowed or refused. The last time the IAS did publish this information was in 2021/2022 when just 6% of appeals were allowed at adjudication, meaning 94% were found in favour of operators.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said:
“After we predicted that private parking companies were on track to issue 14.5m tickets in the space of just a year, the industry claimed there wasn’t an issue with tickets being issued unfairly and drivers are often successful in getting them overturned when they appeal.
“While stories of drivers being treated poorly are all too common, data on the true number of complaints made to operators isn’t available. Even the information published by the industry’s two appeals bodies in their annual reports isn’t that revealing due to it either being out of date or scant.
“With the Government now consulting on what should be in the official Private Parking Code of Practice, we wanted to draw attention to the current lack of data about complaints. We believe the industry should have to publish the volume of complaints made to operators, including the reasons tickets were issued and the nature of the complaints, and whether or not they were cancelled.
“In the meantime, we call on the private parking industry to voluntarily publish full and transparent complaints and appeals data. We also urge POPLA to publish its 2024 annual report as soon as possible and for the Independent Appeals Service to update its report with the percentage of appeals that it allows and refuses.”
(Pic: Yay Images)
