The Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has launched a public consultation on the new Parking Code of Practice. The Government is consulting on the proposal to introduce a single, standardised appeals service to manage appeals from all private parking operators.

There is also a consultation running alongside the Government’s, on the BSI website. The link to the consultation is:
https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2020-00193#/section

The standard is entitled ‘PAS 232 – Privately managed parking – Operation and management – Specification’.

Amongst the proposals being discussed is a 3-tiered system, wherein the most serious breaches such as blocking ambulance bays, parking in disabled bays without a Blue Badge, or parking outside a fire escape, would be met with the highest level of charge. A middle tier would relate to breaches which cause disruption to landowners or businesses, such as parking in ‘staff only’ areas, or across multiple bays. The lowermost tier would include returning within the prohibited period to re-park, or not displaying a permit valid for the particular area.

The proposals include an Appeals Charter, which would see charges reduced, or waived entirely, for various forms of mitigation, such as keying errors on payment machines, or vehicle breakdown.

These latest developments follow the coming into law of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act in March 2019. The intention of the Act is for the Government to lay before Parliament a unified Code of Practice for regulating private parking.

The comment period commenced on the BSI website on 27 August 2020; the Government consultation period commenced on 31 August 2020.

The deadline for responses, to both the BSI and the MHCLG consultations, is 12 October 2020.