Every Driver Risks Fines From Parking Firms as 40% Fail DVLA Data Audit

• A Government Internal Audit Agency review rated 36 of 90 car park management companies red on their use of DVLA keeper data in 2024/25.
• Parking firms made a record 17 million keeper detail requests in the year to March 2026, according to RAC analysis of Freedom of Information data.
• The Private Parking Code of Practice, law from 2019 and withdrawn in 2022, is due to come into force later this year.

The Audit Behind the Parking Letter on Your Doormat

Open a parking charge letter from a private firm and you are holding the product of a DVLA database search. The firm saw your registration number on a camera, paid for your name and address, and posted its demand. A new audit suggests that a large share of the companies running that process do not follow the rules attached to it.

The Government Internal Audit Agency assessed 90 car park management companies in 2024/25, according to analysis published by the RAC on 19 October 2026. Thirty-six firms, 40% of the total, were rated red. That rating means significant weaknesses or serious compliance concerns in how they handle DVLA data. Eleven firms, 12%, were rated amber, meaning weaknesses that need improvement but are not critical. Forty-three firms, 48%, were rated green.

Put those numbers together and 52% of the audited firms, more than half, landed in red or amber territory. The agency describes the ratings as a point-in-time assessment of compliance with DVLA requirements, so a firm rated red in one year can improve in the next. Some have not.

Four Firms With a Record of Red Ratings

The RAC went back through audit results stretching to 2015 and found companies that keep failing. G24 Ltd was rated red in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023. UK Car Park Management Ltd was rated red in 2019 and 2023, and twice in 2018. Vehicle Control Services Ltd was rated red in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2023. APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd was rated red in each of its three audits, the latest in 2024/25, with the others in 2020 and 2022.

All four were rated red as recently as 2023, and APCOA again in 2024/25, which shows how a red rating can repeat. A red rating is a finding on a point in time, and the RAC’s reading is that the rules need force behind them.

Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, said the audit findings showed “the desperate need for the Government’s Private Parking Code of Practice to finally be brought into force”.

17 Million Requests and a £2.50 Fee on Each

Private firms get keeper details through the DVLA’s Keeper at Date of Event service, known as KADOE. Each record costs £2.50. To use it, a company must belong to either the British Parking Association or the International Parking Community, the two trade bodies that run accredited operator schemes.

RAC analysis of Freedom of Information data found a record 17 million keeper detail requests from parking firms in the year to March 2026. At the £2.50 fee, that volume works out at £42.5 million in charges to the industry, a calculation based on the published fee rather than a figure the DVLA has confirmed. It also means the audit covers a system handling a very large volume of personal data, where a failure by a single firm can touch thousands of motorists.

For scale, the government said in 2022 that private firms issue roughly 22,000 parking tickets every day. Over a year, that is about 8 million tickets. Not every request produces a ticket, and the two figures come from different years, but they show how routine the DVLA lookup has become for the industry.

A Code That Became Law, Then Vanished

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act became law in March 2019. It required the government to publish a single code covering private parking operators. The Private Parking Code of Practice that followed was withdrawn in 2022 after legal challenges from the parking and debt recovery industry, the RAC reports.

The government’s own 2022 announcement shows what drivers were promised before the withdrawal. Charges outside London in England, and in Wales, were to fall from £100 to £70 or £50, depending on how serious the breach was. A 50% discount would apply for payment within 14 days. Debt collector excess fees, which previously reached £70, were to be banned. Drivers would get a 10 minute grace period before a late fine could be issued and a five minute cooling-off period to reconsider the terms. Firms that did not follow the code by the end of 2023 could lose access to DVLA data.

That deadline passed without a code in force. The government’s page on the further technical consultation, published in July 2021 and drawing 600 responses, now carries a note added in June 2022 that the decisions on the levels of private parking charges and additional fees “have been withdrawn pending further review”. Read those figures as proposals from 2022, not rules a driver can quote today.

In June 2025, a Labour MP asked whether the housing secretary would instruct the DVLA to audit car park records where a pattern of disputes had been identified. The written answer did not address an audit directly. It said the government recognised the need for high standards in the private parking industry and was committed to delivering a code under the 2019 Act, with a consultation to follow on its impact and on scrutiny and oversight.

What a Driver Can Do With a Letter Today

Until the code is in force, drivers rely on the rules that already apply and the appeals routes run by the industry. Our earlier guide to the October cap on private parking fines sets out what has changed on charges, and it is worth reading alongside this story: Every Driver Gets a £100 Cap on Private Parking Fines This October.

Practical steps, in order of use:

• Check the sender. A genuine charge letter names the operator and states which trade body it belongs to, either the British Parking Association or the International Parking Community. A firm with no membership should not hold DVLA keeper data at all.
• Read the dates. A notice to keeper posted a long time after the visit, or with the wrong vehicle details, is worth challenging in writing.
• Appeal to the operator first and keep every reply. If the operator rejects the appeal, ask what independent appeals route it offers.
• Do not ignore the letters. Unanswered demands escalate to debt recovery, and a court claim becomes possible if the firm believes the charge is owed.
• If you think a firm has used your details wrongly, you can raise a complaint with the DVLA and the relevant trade body.

What Happens Next for Parking Firms and Drivers

The RAC says the code is due to come into force later this year. Under its terms, firms would have to meet operating requirements or lose access to the DVLA database. For a company that sends its letters on the strength of KADOE lookups, that is the sanction that bites: no keeper details, no postal demand.

Several practical questions remain open. Will the DVLA use audit ratings to decide who keeps access? Will repeat red ratings, like the four runs listed above, count against a firm when the code starts? And will the charge levels from 2022 return unchanged, given they were withdrawn for review? The RAC audit findings do not answer those, and the government has not yet published a commencement date in the sources reviewed for this article.

For drivers, the audit adds a new question to ask about any private parking charge. The usual debate is whether you broke the terms on the sign. The audit asks whether the firm demanding payment handled your details properly in the first place. With 40% of audited firms rated red, that question is no longer a fringe argument.

Drivers who have paid or lost an appeal on a charge from one of the firms named above should keep their paperwork. If the code arrives with a route for reviewing past conduct, a clear file of dates, letters and evidence will be the starting point. Anyone planning to appeal a current charge should do it within the deadline printed on the notice, and should treat the letter as the start of a dispute, not the end of one.

Sources:

• RAC: Government audit identifies issues with more than half of private parking firms’ use of DVLA data
• GOV.UK: Government clamps down on rogue parking firms with new Code of Practice
• GOV.UK: Private parking charges, discount rates, debt collection fees and appeals charter: further technical consultation
• Westminster Brief: Parking: Audit