"Every car journey begins and ends in a parking space."
It is estimated that the average motor car is parked for 96% of the time. With motor vehicles becoming more and more affordable, there has been an increase in the number of vehicles on UK roads. In 1951 only 14% of households had access to a car, compared with 77% in 2016, while 34% of UK households have two cars or more.
These key statistics illustrate two key facts: 1/the increasing number of cars on UK roads and 2/the fact that cars are parked for the vast majority of the time. With these issues in mind, it is not hard to see why the management of parking is so crucially important.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has predicted that car traffic in England and Wales will grow by between 11% and 48% by 2050 . This highlights the importance of effective car park management both now and in the future.
Control of Parking on Private Land
When parking on private land, the operative word is “private”. The motorist is allowed to park on private land at the pleasure of the landowner. Because of this, parking on private land is governed by contract law with due reference to consumer protection legislation like the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Parking on private land covers a range of possibilities from dedicated commercial parking operations to private landowners merely attempting to prevent unsolicited parking or stopping to prevent access ways being blocked.
Private parking companies often work in tandem with other business enterprises like supermarkets, retailers, restaurants and shopping centres.
The purpose of a car park in these situations is to facilitate ease of access for customers to help boost business for retailers. It is quite common for customers to be offered a period of parking free of charge to induce them to shop at a particular retailer like a supermarket or at a shopping centre.
Parking operators and retailers offering the inducement of free parking are naturally eager to ensure that their generosity isn’t taken advantage of by motorists who use their parking facilities yet choose to shop elsewhere. Motorists who do this are referred to as a “walk-off”.
This practice will usually be prohibited under the express terms and conditions of a parking contract and will sometimes result in the offending motorist getting a parking ticket. Most car parks using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology will also employ CCTV technology for security purposes and to monitor aberrant behaviour like “walk-offs”.
Control of Parking on Public Land
Parking on public land is governed under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and is mainly enforced by local authorities or the police. Parking on public land within the London boroughs is controlled by Transport for London.
There are times, however, when a local authority may outsource enforcement duties to a private contractor. This should be stated on any car park signage.
