The government has laid a new Private Parking Code of Practice in Parliament, setting grace periods and capped appeal charges for drivers, and plans to add car clocking to the banned practices list.
Key facts
- Who: Drivers who receive private parking charges; consumers buying cars from dealers; parking operators and car dealers
- From: Laid in Parliament on 20 October 2026; the Code will come into force after parliamentary scrutiny, with no date given
- Source: PM puts the brakes on rip-off parking charges and car scams
The Private Parking Code of Practice applies in England, Scotland and Wales. It follows a public consultation that ran from July to September 2025 and received 4,526 responses from the public and industry. Parliament will now scrutinise the Code before ministers bring it into force as soon as possible.
What the Code provides
Drivers are to get a guaranteed 5 minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave once a parking session ends.
Charges are to be cancelled on appeal where the driver can provide evidence that a scenario in the Appeals Charter applies. These include honest mistakes, such as stopping briefly to check directions, and situations such as a medical emergency, a breakdown or a broken ticket machine.
For smaller slip-ups, such as forgetting a parking permit, entering the wrong vehicle's registration or forgetting to confirm it in the machine, the maximum charge on appeal is £20.
The maximum parking charge is frozen at £100. Operators that do not comply risk losing access to DVLA data, which would make it far more difficult to identify the registered owner and pursue payment.
Operators will have to report data on the charges they issue and how appeals are handled. A new independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board will scrutinise this. The process to set it up begins once the Code comes into force.
Debt recovery fees and further consultation
The government has promised to consult as soon as possible next year on private parking debt recovery fees, including whether to cut the existing £70 cap or scrap the fees altogether. It also intends to consult further on the remaining CMA recommendations after the Code is published. Just under 17 million private parking charges were issued in the UK last year.
Car clocking
Car clocking means winding back a vehicle's odometer to disguise its true mileage. Fraudulently selling a clocked car is already illegal. Car clocking will be added to the banned practices list (Schedule 20) under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The change applies to businesses selling cars to consumers and is intended to make it easier for enforcers to act.
What this means for drivers and car buyers
The Code has been laid but is not yet in force, and no date has been given. Once it applies, cancellation on appeal depends on the driver providing evidence that one of the scenarios in the Appeals Charter applies. Keeping evidence of what happened, such as a breakdown or a faulty machine, is therefore likely to matter.
For car buyers, the change to the banned practices list is aimed at making enforcement against car clocking easier where businesses sell to consumers.