Burnham vows end to 'rip-off parking charges' under new rules

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   Burnham vows end to 'rip-off parking charges' under new rules

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 20, 2026Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “Drivers will be given the right to challenge "rip-off" private parking charges and more grace when using private providers under new rules set out by Andy Burnham. The prime minister announced the changes after concerns were raised that penalties issued by private providers were too harsh and left motorists unfairly punished. The new rules include a cancellation of charges for honest mistakes such as stopping to check directions and for non-payment due to broken ticket machines. Drivers will also get a 10-minute window to leave a car park without facing a penalty. Motoring groups welcomed the changes, but said more needed to be done to stop charges when the driver had done nothing wrong. Private car parks are different to council-owned car parks and streets, but more tickets at private sites are now being issued than ever recorded. According to RAC analysis of government data, some 17 million private parking tickets were issued in 2025-26, a 17% increase from a year earlier. With each charge worth up to £100, the data suggests drivers could collectively face private parking charges worth more than £4.6m each day. In one case, a woman was taken to court in a £1,906 claim after taking longer than five minutes to pay at a car park in Derby . The charge was eventually dropped . "Being a few minutes late back to your car or typing one digit of your number plate wrong shouldn't end with a hefty fine landing on your doormat," said Burnham.”

2. 2

   Contract Law When the Poor Pay More.

   Oxford journal of legal studies (Spooner)Published Feb 19, 2024Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “Taking inequality as a key challenge of our time, this article aims to highlight consumer markets, and their underpinning legal ground rules, as important contributors to inequitable wealth distributions. It illustrates how product design, as manifested in contractual terms, can allow firms to evade competition and divert resources upwards along society's wealth distribution curve. It then highlights the contestable legality of certain pricing practices, such as 'contingent charges', and the challenge they pose to fundamental principles of contract law. An in-depth view of the 2015 case of Beavis v ParkingEye argues that the UK Supreme Court has validated contingent pricing models in a manner unsupported by traditional contractual reasoning and unjustified by contemporary market failure analysis. The article asks contract law to confront the reality that it shapes market distributions in economically and politically significant ways, and appeals for greater scrutiny of the contribution of contract law adjudication to inequality.”

3. 3

   APCOA Parking (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaChecked Oct 20, 2026

   “APCOA Parking AG (APCOA) is Europe's longest-established full service parking management company. Headquartered in London, in United Kingdom, it manages over 1,800,000 parking spaces across 11 countries, and employs approximately 5,000 people. On February 7, 2024, it was announced that Strategic Value Partners had completed its acquisition of the company.”