Motorists could due for payments of “Tens of millions of pounds” for unfair parking fines of more than £100 a time, according to the RAC Foundation.
John de Waal QC, a barrister, has prepared a report for the motoring organisation arguing that private parking companies are levying huge charges on drivers out of all proportion to the losses suffered by the landowners.
Barry Beavis was sent a charge letter from Parking Eye after he overstayed a two-hour limit at Riverside Retail Park car park in Chelmsford in April 2013. He contested the initial £85 charge and will appeal the charge next week.
There is no definitive figure regarding how many private car parks there are in England and Wales, as not all are operated by the trade associations, but it is thought the number is in the region of 20,000.
There are also no comprehensive turnover figures for the private parking sector but the RAC suggests it is in excess of the £1.43bn a year.
Jo Abbott of the RAC Foundation and co-author of the report said “They have ignored the impact on motorists who have received demands for large amounts in extra parking charges from operators,”.
She added: “Somewhere along the line they failed to foresee the danger of business models arising within the parking industry that might use payments from those who contravene their regulations to do more than merely compensate them for the cost of the transgression.”
via The Guardian