Britain’s drivers were handed a record 14.4 million parking fines by private companies last year.
The daily rate that tickets were issued by private companies in the year to the end of March was 39,374.
The total over the period was up 13% compared with the 12.8 million during the previous year, and more than double the 6.8 million in 2018/2019.
Motoring groups say this demonstrates the “urgent” need for the Government to reintroduce a code of practice for the sector.
Parking industry bodies have insisted the rising number of tickets issued is simply a result of the increase in the amount of car parks being privately managed, but motoring organisations dispute this claim.
Each ticket can be up to £100, meaning the total daily cost to drivers may be near £3.9 million at the current rate.
Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.
It emerged in April that many drivers are being sent tickets they claim are unfair because of how some payment machines operate, with one campaigner claiming the devices are “set up to trap people”.
Some machines which require users to input their vehicle registration accept payment after only one letter being entered.
This has led to multiple cases of drivers paying the required parking fee but still being sent a parking charge notice when their vehicle was detected by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
A Bill to enable the introduction of a legislation-backed code of conduct received royal assent in March 2019.
This code – scheduled to come into force across Britain by the end of 2023 – included halving the cap on tickets for most parking offences to £50, creating a fairer appeals system, and banning the use of aggressive language on tickets.
But it was withdrawn by the Conservative government in June 2022 after a legal challenge by parking companies.
Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “Business is clearly booming for private parking firms.
“Frankly it is now more urgent than ever that this Government puts years and years of false starts behind it and gets on with implementing both a code of practice…
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