What the New Private Parking Code Changes, and What Drivers Already Had in 2024

The £100 cap, the 40 per cent early payment discount, the £70 debt recovery fee and a 10 minute grace period at most car parks all sit in the industry code published in June 2024, so most of what is reported as new is not. The government’s code, laid before Parliament on 20 October 2026, changes narrower things and adds outside auditors.

Key takeaways:

• The £100 cap, the 40 per cent early payment discount, the £70 debt fee and a 10 minute grace period at most car parks are all in the 2024 industry code.
• The new Code changes the small print: free car parks from 30 minutes, 5 minutes of consideration at short stay sites instead of 1, and illness, childcare, breakdowns and payment machines out of order with no other way to pay move from a £20 charge to the cancel list on evidence.
• It is laid, not in force: the government plans to issue it on 30 November 2026 if Parliament does not object, and the outside bodies that will audit operators are not expected to be evaluated until around April 2027.

Where the Code Stands and What It Replaces

Two private parking codes exist: the industry’s, which applies today, and the government’s, waiting for Parliament’s 40 days to run out.

Laid on 20 October, Not Yet in Force

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government laid its Private Parking Code of Practice before Parliament on 20 October 2026 under the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019. Either House has 40 days from the day of laying to resolve against it. If neither does, the Secretary of State must issue it, and it takes effect after a 21 day period that starts on the day of issue.

The government response published alongside the Code gives 30 November 2026 as the issue date, provided parliamentarians raise no objection, with the Code taking effect 21 calendar days after issue. Counted the way the Act counts, that points to 21 December 2026. The 40 days stop running while Parliament is dissolved, prorogued or adjourned for more than four days.

The Explanatory Memorandum calls the Code subject to the negative resolution procedure. The government intends flexibility for industry on the new standards in an initial implementation period, but expects standards unchanged from the industry code to be enforced without it.

The Code covers private companies on private land in England, Wales and Scotland. It cannot be enforced directly in law, and its sanction is the loss of DVLA keeper data and trade association accreditation. The proposed 10 minute grace period drew the headlines, yet the industry code already carries the figure.

The Industry Code Drivers Are Already Under

The British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) published their sector single code of practice, Version 1, on 27 June 2024. New sites had to comply in full from 1 October 2024, and existing sites with everything except signage and related clauses. Every aspect must be met everywhere by the industry code’s December 2026 deadline, 31 December.

Its foreword says it draws mostly on the government’s code published in February 2022 and withdrawn in June 2022. The Explanatory Memorandum names three differences that remained between the two: how long consideration and grace last, the £20 reduced charge, and appeals after payment. This comparison finds differences in the same three places.

This article sets the Code laid on 20 October 2026 against the sector single code in Version 1 dated 27 June 2024. Version 1 is the only version read, so a later revision would not show here. The government says its Code replaces the industry code when it takes effect, planned ten days before the industry deadline.

What Stays Exactly as It Is

The numbers in the headlines, £100, 40 per cent, £70 and 10 minutes, already apply to drivers. The Code copies each one.

The £100 Cap, the 40 Per Cent Discount and the £70 Fee

Clause 8.2 of the industry code caps parking charges at £100 and requires a reduction of at least 40 per cent for payment within 14 days. Clauses 8.2.1 and 8.2.2 of the Code say the same. An early payer pays £60 at most. The government calls this a freeze, and the £100 parking charge freeze changes neither cap nor discount.

Once a charge is overdue, clause 8.4.3 of the industry code and clause 9.1 of the Code both allow up to £70 on top, taking a charge to £170. The Code adds a caution the industry code lacks. Clause 8.2.1 says: “The maximum amount permitted by this Code of Practice does not mean that a charge will be fair, recoverable or payable in every case.”

The government’s 2025 consultation drew 4,526 responses. Among motorists, 58.8 per cent opposed keeping the £100 cap and 37.8 per cent supported it, with strong support for £50 to £70.

The department corrected an error in its own consultation analysis, which showed debt recovery agents averaging a margin of about 63 per cent. The corrected figures run from minus 13.8 to 18 per cent over 2019/20 to 2021/22, averaging 4.6 per cent, in years that overlapped Covid. The government calls the retained £70 interim and intends to consult again, including on a ban and a lower cap. No date is given.

Ten Minutes of Grace Was Already There

Both Table B.1s give most car parks 5 minutes of consideration and 10 minutes of grace. Pay and display, pay on departure and free car parks under 500 spaces carry the pair in each. For most rows the five and ten presented as new are the same five and ten.

Consideration is time to read the signs, find a bay and pay, and both documents end it once there is evidence the driver accepted the terms. Grace is time added to the end of a permitted or paid period. Clause 5.2 says: “It does not apply in isolation so as to permit free parking equal to the combined consideration and grace periods.”

The government response calls the periods minimums, not automatic enforcement thresholds. The Competition and Markets Authority recommended that operators tack the whole consideration period on after a session ends, unless the driver accepted the contract earlier. The government left that to a future consultation.

What Does Change in the Small Print

The two texts part company in three places: Table B.1, the Appeals Charter and appeals after payment.

Five Minutes and Ten Minutes, Read Line by Line

The first difference is the threshold. The industry table starts its free car park rows at 1 hour or more. The Code’s start at 30 minutes or more, so a car park offering 45 minutes free now falls in a row, with 5 minutes of consideration and 10 of grace, where the industry table has no row for it.

The second is land tied to an event or to customers. The industry table lists 5 minutes of consideration and no grace for both. The Code lists 5 minutes and 10 minutes, and a footnote in both tables ties event land grace to a time limited permission to park.

The third is short stay land, which the government response defines as sites offering stays of under 30 minutes. The industry table gives 1 minute of consideration and no grace. The Code gives 5 minutes and still no grace, so a driver at a short stay site who is slow to read a sign gains four minutes.

Pay and display, pay on departure and pre-booked rows match, so at most car parks the table a driver is under today is the table the Code carries.

Illness, Childcare and Broken Machines Move to the Cancel List

Annex F of the industry code sets out an Appeals Charter with two outcomes: cancel, or reduce to £20 for 14 days. It puts onset of illness, an overrunning medical appointment, childcare delays, a vehicle breakdown and payment machines out of operation in the £20 group, though its introduction also tells operators to take clear evidence of illness or emergency into account. The Code moves all five to the list of charges that should be cancelled on appeal. The government response says: “The government agrees with respondents that it is unfair to apply even a reduced charge where the circumstances are outside of a motorist’s control.”

The £20 charge is left with four cases: a valid permit not displayed, a paid tariff against the wrong registration, a registration not entered at a terminal, and a Blue Badge not displayed. The industry code limited £20 to a first charge paid within 14 days with no independent appeal. The Code drops that limit for the first three and keeps it for the Blue Badge, in the first instance only.

Cancellation on appeal turns on reliable evidence, and operators should let a driver supply more. The industry charter also let operators decline to engage with a motorist who had a record of non-compliance. Clause 19 carries no matching exception.

A driver delayed by childcare arrangements, or by a hospital appointment that ran over, was listed for £20 under the industry code. Under the Code the same evidence is listed for cancellation. A broken payment machine needs more than the fault: the Code asks whether the operator offered another way to pay, or a working machine nearby and in view.

Pay Before You Leave and the Charges That Should Never Be Issued

Clause 19 lists cases in which no charge should go out at all. At an ANPR or CCTV car park with a tariff, a driver who pays in full before leaving receives none, and on stays over 24 hours payment is due within 24 hours of arrival. A trade association suggested extending that to free ANPR car parks where the registration is logged at the terminal before leaving, and the Code does.

The documents do not settle whether the pay before exit rule is new. The consultation described it as the industry code’s standard, and operators and both trade associations called it consistent with that code. The Version 1 text read here has no matching clause, though guidance or later versions are outside what was read. The rule is reported as the Code states it, labelled neither new nor old.

Paying and appealing do not mix. The industry code has operators tell a recipient that paying ends the right to appeal. The Code allows an appeal within 30 days of payment in two cases: payment made to release the vehicle, as at a barrier, and later evidence of wrongdoing by the operator. The industry code requires no such route.

How It Is Enforced, and What Drivers Can Do

Both codes use the same sanction, access to DVLA keeper data, and differ in who checks the operators.

The Sanction Is DVLA Data, Now Backed by Outside Auditors

Under the industry code the two trade associations police their own members. They audit each operator at least once a year, award sanction points and tell the DVLA when an operator is suspended or expelled. The DVLA’s conditions for releasing keeper data already include accredited trade association membership, audits and the power to refuse future requests.

The Code keeps the lever and changes the inspector. The Secretary of State has to take compliance with the Code into account when deciding on DVLA keeper data and on accrediting parking associations. Compliance is certified by bodies accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) under the Private Parking Certification Scheme, which the Ministry owns but built as a third party system.

Certificates last three years, with checks on the first and second anniversaries, and extra audits can follow a report from the public. A breach reported without telling the operator first goes back to the operator to fix. The body sets the time to fix a fault, capped at 6 weeks for a minor one and 4 for a major one, and must suspend if it is not fixed.

Annual checks are not the difference, as the industry code already audits members every year. Independence is, and it is not yet in place. UKAS has recognised the scheme but must still evaluate certification bodies once organisations come forward, a process the government response expects to run until around April 2027. No certification body or certified operator is named in the documents read.

What the Code Leaves Alone and How to Use It

The Code leaves the cap, the £70 fee and the existing second-stage appeals services in place. The government response says it will impose stricter standards on those services, including no industry affiliation for decision makers and an annual report from parking associations on appeals decided for the motorist.

The Impact Assessment reports DVLA keeper requests, a proxy for charges issued, rising from 1.9 million in 2012 to more than 15 million in the year to September 2025, about eight times as many. The rise cannot be put down to poor practice alone, and the government holds no data splitting wilful from accidental breaches.

The route runs in a fixed order. Appeal to the operator within 28 days of delivery. If it rejects the appeal, a driver who appealed in time can still pay the earlier rate for 14 days. A second-stage appeal suspends debt recovery but loses the discount if it also fails. The two-stage appeal process keeps its shape, and operators withdrew about 40,000 cases before a POPLA ruling in 2025.

The numbers drivers saw in the headlines are the numbers they already had. What is new is smaller: illness, childcare, breakdowns and broken machines are now listed for cancellation instead of costing £20, and outside auditors are not expected to clear UKAS evaluation before around April 2027. The £70 debt fee stays, labelled interim, with a further consultation intended on a ban or a lower cap. Until the Code takes effect, the industry code is the rulebook.

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Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar