My Lords, we understand the frustrations and complexities that motorists face in dealing with private parking, so we are exploring all possible ways to give motorists the best protection and support. We want to strike a balance between ensuring that parking charges and debt recovery fees are at a reasonable level and allowing parking operators to manage car parks effectively. We are planning to launch a consultation—I am not going to say “in due course”—during this year, which will include options for capping charges and debt recovery fees.
I thank the Minister for that reply. She will be aware that the legislation to regulate the behaviour of parking companies was passed by Parliament in 2019, yet because of obstruction by the industry it is still not in force and motorists are still being hit with excessive and unfair charges. Does she accept that the industry’s business model depends on access to the Government’s DVLA database? Unless companies are prepared to co-operate, should they not be cut off from access to that system? That may rather get their attention and co-operation.
I am grateful to my noble friend for the non-controversial Question of the day and for all the campaigning he has done on this issue; I know it is a great frustration to so many people. The problem was that, when the code was laid in 2022 as a result of the 2019 Act, there was a legal challenge and it had to be withdrawn. We are going out to consultation again, to make sure that we do the consultation properly and thoroughly. We will bring forward a further code of practice in due course, once that consultation has been done properly. I understand the point my noble friend is making. If he wants to put in a submission to the consultation, we would be very pleased to hear it.
In 1989, not 1889—I was a little young then. I took through the House the Parking Bill, which introduced cashless parking into this country for the first time. I am sure noble Lords will be very pleased about that. Subsequently, as has been referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, in his excellent question, my right honourable friend Sir Gregory Knight, who was the MP in Yorkshire, introduced this further parking Act, which had clear instructions for a code of practice to be introduced. The Minister mentioned that that was put on hold in 2022. Surely we can now make some progress, because we all know of the many abuses which take place, particularly in the private parking industry.
My Lords, I have not been in this ministerial post since 2022. I will now take action on this as quickly as I can. I thank the noble Lord for his work on this and agree that it is very important that we get it resolved as quickly as possible. The industry did step up and produce its own code of practice, covering the whole private parking industry. That was a step forward, but we need to do what it says in the Act and introduce a government code of practice. We will get on with that as quickly as possible.
My Lords, the code of conduct has been discussed today. It was withdrawn after only four months. In the policy document and consultation that the Government plan, will they be looking at the issue of motorists who have been charged nearly £2,000 for taking more than five minutes to pay for their parking?
That was some of the worst practice that we have seen, and there has been a lot of media interest in this. I see, as probably we all do, people wrestling to download apps when there is no wifi, so that they can pay their parking charges. Both private parking trade associations have recognised this as an issue. They have worked collaboratively to take immediate steps to ensure that motorists no longer receive parking charges in that kind of scenario. This came into effect at the start of February. We welcome those steps taken by the industry, but there is still more to do.
My Lords, in her consultation, will the Minister ensure that she links up with the devolved Government in Cardiff? Many of these companies operate in England and in Wales. In Wales, some of the regulations may vary and they take no notice of them. Can she include that in any consultation?
I hope that anybody in Wales who is interested in this will contribute to the consultation. We want much better practice in these arrangements, across the United Kingdom. Any contributions to the consultation will be welcome.
My Lords, when I was campaigning to ban cowboy wheel-clampers, otherwise known as modern-day highway robbers—a campaign in which the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, was very helpful—I was very aware of the need for the Security Industry Authority to have adequate powers to deal with rogue parking companies that come up with more and more ingenious ways to persecute motorists. Can my noble friend liaise with Ministers in the Home Office to ensure that the Security Industry Authority, perhaps during the consultation that she has talked about, has adequate powers to punish those rogue companies that persecute motorists?
I very much understand the issues that my noble friend has outlined. We will do our best to work across government. That is a Home Office issue, but I would be happy to meet her and the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, to discuss this further.
Is the Minister aware that, following the judicial review that she mentioned of the code of conduct, the department promised to publish an impact assessment? It did publish draft impact assessments but has not yet published the full impact assessments. Is the reason for that that the impact assessments show that the £100 dropping to £40 does work and that the problem is that councils, which can charge only £50, dropping to £25, are not able to enforce parking restrictions because it simply is not economic?
I am not sure why the full impact assessment was not published. The accredited trade association’s voluntary cap on private parking charges is £100, as the noble Lord will be aware. I will look into the issue around local authority caps on parking charges and get back to him.