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Good News For Lytham St Anne’s Drivers – Rogue Parking Firms To Be Barred From Obtaining DVLA Data

Rogue Parking Enforcement Firms who prey on local motorists will be barred from requesting Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data under new proposals from the Government.  This will make these predatory businesses unable to pursue motorists through the post for any charges, according to Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick. Currently, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency charges these private firms £2.50 to access each record of a driver alleged to have broken parking rules.

This comes as the number of parking tickets issued in the UK has rocketed over the past financial year (2019-2020) with 8.4million tickets dished out by private parking firms, up by  24 per cent on the previous financial year (2018- 2019).

New rules will apply to private firms in England, Scotland and Wales and aim to tackle predatory, rogue firms that use aggressive or pseudo-legal language to intimidate motorists into paying parking fines. Many hospital car parks, shopping centres, leisure venues and off-street parking sites are run by private firms and the changes will apply to these operators.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced, ‘These new measures are a victory for millions of motorists. They will put a stop once and for all to rogue parking firms using aggressive tactics and handing out unfair parking tickets with no right to appeal, while also boosting our high streets by making it easier for people to park near their local shops without being unfairly fined.’

‘Our proposals will restore common sense to the way parking fines are issued, while cracking down on the worst offenders who put other people in danger and hinder our emergency services from carrying out their duties.’

Among the proposals is the creation of a single appeals service and an appeals charter for motorists to use if they feel they have been unfairly fined.

Motorists could appeal against their fine and see it reduced to a maximum of £20, or cancelled entirely if they have a mitigating reason for overstaying the time on their parking ticket.

Mitigating circumstances could include:

  • your vehicle breaking down
  • making an innocent error, such as keying in a digit in your number plate incorrectly
  • having a valid ticket or permit but failing to display it correctly
  • having a valid blue badge but incorrectly putting it on display

 

Firms that break the new code will be barred from requesting Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency data, making them unable to pursue motorists through the post for any charges.

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