Private parking firms have promised to update their rules to ensure motorists are not fined if they don’t pay for parking within five minutes.
It comes after motorist Rosie Hudson was taken to court last year after racking up £1,906 in fines for taking more than five minutes to pay for parking in Derby.
Ms Hudson was given 10 parking charge notices over several days after walking away from her car to find phone reception so she could use the app to pay for the space.
Now two industry bodies say they will revise their code of conduct to “protect real motorists” and “reflect technological advances”.
The British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) have announced that a panel will review the private parking sector’s code of conduct to ensure it “protects genuine motorists who It is difficult to pay promptly on admission”.
The BPA said a key priority would be to review Ms Hudson’s case quickly, known as the five-minute payment rule.
It said revisions to the code to address payment difficulties would come into effect by February 2025 and a full revision could be expected by next April.
Ms Hudson was one of a number of people taken to court by private car park operator Excel Parking.
In December, Axel dropped his case against him. Without explanation, and did the same for him. Gary’s, who was parked in the same car park. in Derby and was preparing to fight a £255 fine.
In November, an analysis of official figures by the RAC Foundation found that private parking companies were issuing an average of 41,000 parking tickets per day.
Each ticket can be worth up to £100, meaning drivers could earn up to £4.1m a day from fines.
A bill to introduce a government-backed code of conduct for private parking companies received royal assent in 2019 but was withdrawn in June 2022 following a legal challenge by parking companies.
The code included a £50 cap on most fines, a grace period for lateness and a better appeals system.
In June, the BPA and IPC published their own codes of conduct that will be overseen by the new panel.
BPA chief executive Andrew Pester said the move to introduce the panel showed private parking firms were “serious about raising standards but also making decisive changes to the code when problems arise.”
IPC chief executive Will Hurley said the panel “shows the commitment the industry has to improving the reputation of our sector”.