Huge change in parking rules from Monday to stop drivers getting tickets
Private parking companies have pledged to stop penalising drivers for taking too long to pay. Drivers using private car parks have been handed tickets as their payment was not made within a certain time after their arrival.
In November 2024, the BBC reported that a woman was being taken to court by a private parking company for £1,906 after poor mobile phone signal meant she repeatedly took more than five minutes to pay after entering a car park in Derby. Two industry bodies representing the sector announced their code of conduct will be updated from Monday to provide a 'safeguard' when motorists experience delays in making parking payments.
The British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) said drivers should no longer be issued tickets for using privately owned car parks where a fixed camera monitors when cars enter and exit, as long as they pay before they leave. The change, which will not apply to council-run car parks or those where wardens are deployed, is being made by a panel established by the industry bodies last month.
READ MORE: Married children's home worker 'encouraged boy to go missing and asked for love bite'
READ MORE: Baby died at three weeks old after mum told she was 'being paranoid'
IPC chief executive Will Hurley said: 'It is crucial that there is a mechanism to identify and resolve issues quickly. I am pleased that the panel has acted swiftly to introduce safeguards for motorists. It is important drivers play their part by reading and following instructions on signage when parking their vehicle.'
BPA chief executive Andrew Pester said: 'It is a real testament to the (panel) that this change has been implemented so efficiently. The parking sector is always striving to ensure it operates in the interest of compliant motorists and to ensure that parking is fairly managed for all.
'This change is another important step in achieving this.'
Motoring groups reiterated their calls for a legislation-led code of practice to be introduced. AA head of roads policy Jack Cousens said: 'This change to the self-authored code by private parking operators only highlights the urgent necessity to implement the Government-backed code of practice alongside a truly independent single appeals process and oversight board.
'Until the statutory system is in place, drivers will continue to receive aggressive letters from shark-like companies that scare people into payment even though they may have done nothing wrong.'
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: 'This is the latest attempt to make the private parking industry look fair. 'As there's no information on how the change will work in practice, we fear it will make little difference to drivers.'
A Bill to enable the introduction of a Government-backed code for private parking companies received royal assent under the Conservative government in March 2019. It was withdrawn in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.
This code included halving the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, creating a fairer appeals system and banning the use of aggressive language on tickets. The BPA and IPC's own code of practice was introduced in June 2024.
Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees. Drivers in Britain are being hit by an average of more than 41,000 parking tickets a day by private companies.
Some 3.8 million tickets were handed out between July and September 2024, according to analysis of Government data by the PA news agency and motoring research charity the RAC Foundation.
Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total cost to drivers may be near £4.1 million per day.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
P&O Ferries hires four-man firm after accounting fiasco
P&O Ferries has hired a four-person accountancy firm as its auditor after KPMG quit the account abruptly this year. Just Audit & Assurance, which describes itself as 'a specialist firm created to address the specialist needs of the smaller company and charity audits', will audit the ferry operator's accounts, which are overdue. Experts said the decision to appoint such a small auditor raised potential concerns over the financial health and governance standards of P&O Ferries. Atul Shah, a professor of accounting at City St George's, University of London, said: 'This is pure and simple opinion shopping, something which a public interest and regulated profession should strongly and publicly reprimand.' Notably, large corporations almost always use larger and more established firms to audit their accounts owing to the complexity of the work involved and the scale of the work required. Just Audit & Assurance, is based in Witney, Oxfordshire, and has just two partners and a total of four staff, according to Companies House filings. Of all the companies listed on the FTSE 100 index, just one used an accountancy firm outside of the 'big four' – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – to audit their accounts last year, Financial Reporting Council data show. P&O Ferries, which is owned by the Dubai-based ports and logistics giant DP World, was already months late in filing its financial statements for 2023 when KPMG quit as auditor in March, having worked with the company since 2007. Commenting on its resignation at the time, KPMG said it was 'not possible to complete an audit of the 2023 accounts to the required standard within management's desired timetable'. In a letter outlining its decision, KPMG said it believed it would be unable to audit the accounts in a timely manner as 'some of the drivers of that delay remain'. It comes following a torrid few years for P&O Ferries after it was attacked for sacking almost 800 seafarers via text message and replacing them with cheaper staff. Peter Hebblethwaite, P&O's chief executive, later admitted that he deliberately chose to ignore trade unions during the process, leading Labour to introduce legislation to protect jobs and wages in the maritime sector. Last year, the company's owner DP World clashed with the Government after Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary, called it a 'rogue operator'. Sir Keir Starmer disowned Ms Haigh's comments, declaring they were 'not the view of the Government', after DP World pulled out of a Labour-backed investment summit. Jonathan Russell, partner at Audit & Assurance said: 'Just because we're a small audit firm, it doesn't mean we'll do an inferior job.' He said he expects to charge lower fees than KPMG, at about £265,000. He said that alongside his four full-time employees, he also has access to 35 freelancers. P&O Ferries and KPMG declined to comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
36 minutes ago
- Forbes
Polish Elections: Conservative Momentum And The Fight For Economic Freedom
Few days before winning the election Poland's conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki ... More spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) I have been working with think tanks in Poland since the 1990s, and the progress I have witnessed over the years is truly remarkable. Many challenges remain, but after last week's victory for conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, coupled with good first-round results for Slawomir Mentzen of the Konfederacja (Confederation for Liberty and Independence) alliance, Poland has a chance to continue building support for economic and social policies that lead to prosperity. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with your property, are the foundation of prosperity. They also explain why Poland's economy has outperformed that of most of its neighbors. Polish society, long resilient in the face of adversity, has endured centuries of invasions and oppression from powerful countries. In 1655, for instance, the Swedish army invaded what was then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, setting off a devastating five-year conflict. The following century, in what some have called the most egregious land grab in history, Russia, Prussia, and Austria took over and partitioned Polish territory. Thus, from the late 1790s until the end of World War I, Poland existed only in the soul of its people. Then in the 20th century, of course, the country suffered years of Nazi and Soviet rule. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Poland has embraced market-oriented reforms, drawing strength from its Catholic heritage and valuing life, community, and solidarity. As a result, the country has experienced rapid growth and is steadily closing the income gap with the leading nations of the Western world. Economic freedom in Poland, of course, grew following the fall of communism and jumped again in the 2010s before being negatively impacted by COVID policies. Since then, the Polish economy has continued to grow despite political differences; however, the country has yet to regain the high economic freedom scores it achieved a decade ago. Nevertheless, as the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom shows, Poland has maintained high scores in most economic areas. Economic Freedom scores of Poland show a good position on freedom to trade but low scores in ... More government spending In the country's current context, the war in Ukraine, of course, looms large. When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, I wrote a piece arguing that Poland was back at the forefront of Western civilization; now it is more strategic than ever for the free world. Proving that in their culture, solidarity is much more than a political slogan (or the name of its famous labor movement), generous Poles have since the beginning of the conflict opened their houses to Ukrainians. Initial estimates indicated that over 3 million refugees crossed the border to Poland. Although the war continues, many Ukrainians have returned to their land, yet still close to one million have been granted temporary protected status in Poland, which is currently home to about 2 million Ukrainian citizens. In Poland, any sign of compromise or weakness in supporting Ukraine is enough for someone to be labelled pro-Putin. Most Poles see the current effort to support Ukraine as an opportunity to weaken Russia, its most dangerous geopolitical and strategic enemy. However, President-elect Nawrocki (who takes office on August 6) has had no qualms about seeking and accepting support from President Trump, often accused of being soft on Putin and weak in his support for Ukraine. Regarding the Trump administration, Poland's continuing balance of power and the growth of Konfederacja should allow for continued constructive engagement and the hope to open a new path for Europe. Current President Andrzej Duda was elected by the same coalition forces, with PiS (Law and Justice) as the major party, that gave the narrow win to Nawrocki. A victory by Rafal Trzaskowski, aligned with the policies of Donald Tusk, the current prime minister, would have moved Poland closer to the political forces still dominant in Brussels and farther from today's Washington. As China is a major ally of Russia and is helping with its war of aggression on Ukraine, during my recent visit to Poland, I repeatedly sought opinions on China. In Poland, though, there is almost no talk or awareness of the threat of communist China. The answers I received ranged from 'China is far from us' to 'China's diplomats are not pushy or arrogant, compared to those in the West.' On internal matters, policy players who focus primarily on economic policy have complained that Poland's leading parties, Civic Coalition and Law and Justice, seem satisfied with the economic status quo. The good election results from Konfederacja, a party which, in addition to promoting institutions and laws that protect life, faith, and family, also advocates for increased economic freedom, may in time lead to a more market-friendly center-right government. I have followed Konfederacja since its early days, when it was the creation of one of the most colorful political and intellectual troublemakers I have ever met: Janusz Korwin-Mikke. The party is now divorced from his eccentricities, which, though appealing to some of the most radical voters, alienate the rest. Much like the Libertarian Party in the United States, Korwin-Mikke's party, despite some success, was not taken seriously and struggled to achieve the 5% threshold needed to win seats in Parliament. Things have changed. In the 2020 presidential election, the party's young presidential candidate, Krzysztof Bosak, then in his late thirties, attracted 6.78% of the vote. In the first round of the 2025 election, Slawomir Mentzen, the candidate backed by Konfederacja, attracted 15% of the vote. I had been following Mentzen, also not yet 40 years old, because his allies admired the bold moves of President Javier Milei in Argentina and asked me if I had any way to attract President Milei to Poland or get him to endorse Mentzen. Leaders of think tanks and political parties working to improve rule of law and economic freedom in ... More Poland. Clockwise, from upper left, Jerzy Kwaśniewski (Ordo Iuris), Tomasz Wróblewski (Warsaw Enterprise Institute), Krzysztof Bosak MP (Deputy Marshal of the Sejm), Grzegorz Placzek, MP (Chairman of Konfederacja Parliamentary block). Right: over of the Great Reset document produced by Ordo Iuris, and Mathias Corvinus College (Budapest) The day after Nawrocki's victory, I met with Grzegorz Placzek, the leader of Konfederacja in the Sejm, or lower house. Placzek described to me some of his party's plans. In addition to consolidating the party's vote to remain in third place and become a key partner in future center-right governments, Placzek would like to push for bolder efforts. One possibility is closer collaboration with the Trump administration to form a common front against international agencies that have proven ineffective or are seen as working too closely with the Chinese government or push a leftist or 'woke' cultural agenda. Konfederacja has proposed forming a common cause with the United States and Argentina, leaving the World Health Organization, and establishing an alternative group. Placzek is well-positioned to strengthen ties with Argentina, serving as chairman of the Polish-Argentine Parliamentary Group, which aims to foster collaboration with Argentina's libertarian lawmakers. On the think-tank side, I spent time with leaders of two groups that have consistently produced quality programs and attracted support from a broad donor base. The first of these is Ordo Iuris, founded in 2013, which focuses on the rule of law and the culture and institutions of justice. The other is the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI), a multifaceted pro-free-market think tank founded also in 2013. Last September, in collaboration with the Heritage Foundation, Ordo Iuris convened think tanks from across Europe to discuss the potential impact of current EU policies on transatlantic relations. The effort encouraged Ordo Iuris to collaborate with Hungary's Mathias Corvinus Collegium to produce a document serving as a guide for European reforms. This alternative 'Great Reset' [I will put a link] document is available online in several languages and calls for reestablishing a union based on six founding principles: national sovereignty over EU primacy; national constitutions over judicial activism; representative democracy over technocratic government; subsidiarity and respect for national competencies over centralization; national interests over self-proclaimed EU values; and free speech over ideological control. WEI's work encompasses research, events, and publications. One product that caught my attention is the Institute's Black Book of Government Spending. The book aims to raise awareness of waste and inefficiencies in government. The effort promotes transparency among authorities and fosters incentives for good practices. As it seeks input from all over Poland, it also raises WEI and its market-oriented solutions across the nation. Most other market-oriented think tanks in Poland are fragile, relying on a few donors, well-known figures, or a single main product. The oldest of these is the Adam Smith Centre, founded in 1989, which continues to celebrate 'Tax Freedom Day.' The Civil Development Forum Foundation (FOR) was established in March 2007 by Professor Leszek Balcerowicz and serves as a primary advocate for sound economic policies. The Polish American Foundation for Education and Economic Research, founded in 2000, has helped publish multiple books promoting free markets, organized important programs, and provided numerous scholarships. It is currently in standby mode with minimal programming due to the death of its founder and principal funder, Jan Malek, but there is hope that its programs will soon be reactivated. Am I hopeful for Poland's future? Yes. A few days before the Presidential election, CPAC held its first-ever event in Poland. It was very well attended, with most Polish participants aligned with the opposition to the current government led by Donald Tusk. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the highest-level Trump administration official at the event, was extremely well-received. She did not keep quiet about the June 1 presidential election and endorsed Nawrocki. However, neither did The Economist and multiple publications and writers aligned with Brussels, who employed various scare tactics to encourage Poles to vote for Rafal Trzaskowski. The divisions between libertarians and conservatives in many countries have led to left-wing victories. Given the common ground on cultural topics in Poland and the results of this past election, I am confident that political and intellectual differences will not hinder their path to prosperity. Wojciech Popiela, wpopiela@ collaborated with this piece
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tax changes dominate finance election roadshow
The potential for changes to taxation was among the most popular topics raised at the BBC's third election roadshow, which focussed on the island's finances. Last year the States approved a package of tax reforms including a 5% GST, a lower income tax rate for earnings under £30,000 and social security contribution changes. Former Dean of the St Andrew's Douzaine Godfray Guilbert said: "I know GST is unpopular, but we have got to widen our tax base somehow." Former UK Business Minister Lord Digby Jones agreed that sorting the island's finances and moving forward with plans for a GST should be the States "top priority". The roadshow on the state of the island's finances was held in Forest on Friday. Gill Freeman was among people to attend and said her top election issue was balancing the books. She said she preferred the idea of an increase to the rate of income tax, which the States rejected in favour of GST last year. She said: "GST is unfair as it gets the lowest paid." The agreed States policy, according to the treasury, is to mitigate against the regressive impact of a GST through the lower rate of income tax. Former UK Business Minister Lord Digby Jones said he wanted the next States to "have a sense of urgency" when it came to tackling the island's public finances. He said: "We need to follow through with GST+, as that is urgent, otherwise we are just going to run out of money. "That's not nice to have. It's a must and we need to big time sort out the dosh." Outgoing politician, Deputy Andy Taylor agreed: "This government needs to drum home the actual situation we are in, the financial difficulties in the future. "If we don't tackle those we are absolute scuppered." On the way to pick up her friend at the airport, Sandra Poulding agreed GST was a "necessary evil" for the island. Another States member, who is leaving government at the end of this term, Deputy Bob Murray, came to visit the roadshow on the way to grab some Guernsey biscuits. He expressed his exasperation at the current States and said he was concerned incoming candidates would fail to grasp how big an issue the future of the island's finances was. He said: "The island has still not grasped the nettle in terms of the challenges we face, and I think we will have to wait for something like a car crash situation to have people wake up to the problems the island has. "Hopefully GST will be introduced, it is a major way we can start to address the deficit in public finances. The other crown dependencies won't deal with us on corporate tax reform until we bring in a GST, why would they?" A number of general election candidates have promised to reform the island's corporate income tax system, if they are elected. While others have suggested a mix of income from corporate tax reform and a new wind farm off the coast of Guernsey would be enough to stop the need for a GST. Outside Forest Stores, people weren't just talking tax, as several voters expressed their frustration with the current electoral system. As she got some meat for her dog from the shops, Liz stopped by and said the States should go back to the parish system of electing deputies. She said: "This election is too much, this way of electing is not good for our community. "People's days are full, they have children to go home and look after, they don't have time to go through 82 manifestos." Paul Domaille said his top priority at this election was supporting candidates who would reform the voting system: "I don't think island wide voting is working." Former Deputy for the west, Gloria Dudley-Owen, said she's been "disappointed" with the election campaign so far. She said: "There are some candidates definitely lacking in knowledge about the issues." In the past Mrs Dudley-Owen has campaigned to tighten the island's population laws and said high levels of net migration to the island were a concern that candidates needed to take seriously. She said: "I think it's quite tragic what is happening with our population, we seem to have a bias against helping the Guernsey population. "Net migration was high last year, we do need workers but I feel our people, our local people are being neglected in their needs when it comes to housing." More news stories for Guernsey Listen to the latest news for Guernsey Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to GST plans approved as income tax rise rejected States considers leasing seafloor for wind farm States of Guernsey
