The AA has warned drivers that there has been a significant rise in the number of private parking tickets issued over the past 12 months.
The rise has come, according to the AA, following the ban on clamping which came into force last year. The ban was supposed to protect motorists who faced huge release fees, often hundreds of pounds, to get their cars back.
However, in return for the ban landowners were given the power to impose parking fines to anyone leaving vehicles on their property without permission. Consequently, it is estimated that 2.3 million private fines will be issued this year, representing an increase of 500,000 over the previous year.
In addition to the rise in the number of tickets issued, the AA has also said that the behaviour of some private companies has been questionable since the ban.
Edmund King, the AA’s president, expressed his concerns about the issue. He said: "Private parking enforcement remains unregulated and is a free-for-all when even firms signed up to a code of practice breach their own rules.
"It seems many of the notorious clampers have moved their sharp practices to private parking enforcement.
“Others seem to have adopted strong arm tactics to threaten drivers into paying tickets that are often unjust and set at an unreasonable level compared to those issued by regulated local authorities."
The British Parking Association has established an independent appeals service since the clamping ban however, in order to protect motorists who receive unfair tickets. Patrick Troy, chief executive of the BPA, defended the industry. He said: “It is disappointing that the AA has taken a typically negative attitude to the significant changes brought about by changes in the law introduced last year.
"We’ve invited the AA to join us in managing the scheme which ensures BPA members comply with a robust Code of Practice but they have consistently declined, unlike many other organisations representing the motorists’ interests. We and they are interested only in placing the motorist at the heart of our thinking, not scoring cheap political points.”
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