RAC calls on private parking industry to publish ‘full and transparent’ complaints and appeals data

In a bid to ensure drivers are treated fairly by private parking companies the RAC is calling on the industry to publish ‘full and transparent’ complaints data to back up its claims that drivers who challenge tickets do often succeed.

As it stands, the industry’s two trade associations – the British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) – don’t publish any information about the number of complaints member companies receive about the ‘parking charge notices’ they issue and, importantly, how many they then cancel.

What’s more, there’s also a lack of data relating to the second-stage appeals process which is used by unhappy drivers after their cases have been refused by car park management companies. Currently, the two appeals bodies, paid for by the two trade associations, only publish very limited data, some of which is out of date and some of which lacks key information about the percentage of appeals that are allowed and refused.

For example, the BPA’s Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA)* is still yet to publish its annual report for 2024 which covers 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024, while the IPC’s Independent Appeals Service (IAS)**, which has published its 2024 report, crucially fails to reveal how many appeals were allowed or refused. The last time the IAS did publish this information was in 2021/2022 when just 6% of appeals were allowed at adjudication, meaning 94% were found in favour of operators.

POPLA, however, is more transparent in its annual reports. Its most recent report for 2022/2023 shows 42% of cases resulted in parking charge notices being cancelled, either due to operators conceding or following an adjudication decision (37,125 out of 88,626 appeals that went through the POPLA process). The RAC calculates that the 42% is made up 25% of appeals being cancelled by the operator (22,285 not contested by operators, out of all appeals received) and 17% being allowed at adjudication (14,840 allowed, out of all appeals received). Looking solely at adjudicated appeals, the data in the POPLA 2022/2023 report shows it allowed 22% of cases and refused 78% (14,840 allowed and 51,501 refused, out of 66,341 appeals decided).

RAC analysis of government data published in July 2025 found that private parking firms made a record 14.4m requests to the DVLA for vehicle keeper details in the 2024/25 financial year – the equivalent of nearly 40,000 a day.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “After we predicted that private parking companies were on track to issue 14.5m tickets in the space of just a year, the industry claimed there wasn’t an issue with tickets being issued unfairly and drivers are often successful in getting them overturned when they appeal.

“While stories of drivers being treated poorly are all too common, data on the true number of complaints made to operators isn’t available. Even the information published by the industry’s two appeals bodies in their annual reports isn’t that revealing due to it either being out of date or scant.

“With the Government now consulting on what should be in the official Private Parking Code of Practice, we wanted to draw attention to the current lack of data about complaints. We believe the industry should have to publish the volume of complaints made to operators, including the reasons tickets were issued and the nature of the complaints, and whether or not they were cancelled.

“In the meantime, we call on the private parking industry to voluntarily publish full and transparent complaints and appeals data. We also urge POPLA to publish its 2024 annual report as soon as possible and for the Independent Appeals Service to update its report with the percentage of appeals that it allows and refuses.”

Previously published RAC research*** found very few drivers (3%) believe private parking companies operate reasonably, while most think their enforcement policies are too heavy-handed (55%). They are also enormously frustrated that the Private Parking Code of Practice is still not in force some six years after an Act of Parliament was passed to clamp down on rogue operators, with eight-in-10 drivers (84%) believing it’s not right that the official code still hasn’t been introduced.

Drivers who want to complete the Government’s consultation on its official Private Parking Code of Practice have until 5 September to do so here.

Ends

Notes to Editors

* POPLA annual reports can be found here

** IAS annual reports can be found here

*** RAC Opinion Panel online survey conducted with 1,847 drivers from 20-28 August 2024