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The RAC forecasts a record 17 million private parking charge notices will be issued in one year, a rise of 3 million, as confusion between private and council-issued tickets leaves many drivers unaware of the key legal differences.
The RAC predicts that private parking companies will issue a record 17 million private parking charge notices ( PCN s) to drivers by the end of the current financial year.
This represents a significant increase of three million tickets compared to the previous year, 2024-25, when 14.4 million were issued. Government data, due for publication next month, is expected to confirm that last year's record has been broken. In the first three quarters of the current financial year, over 13 million PCNs were already dispatched, averaging 4.3 million per quarter and indicating a pace well above the prior year's total.
The RAC warns that this surge should trigger alarm in Parliament, with policy spokesman Simon Williams stating that the record figure suggests something is "going badly awry" and underscoring the urgency of the government's ongoing Private Parking Code of Practice consultation. He emphasized that drivers must be assured of fair treatment whenever they use private car parks. The trend points to escalating enforcement actions by private operators, a development that raises concerns about the fairness and transparency of the system.
The magnitude of the issue is further highlighted by interim data showing that in the year to September 2025, a record 15.9 million tickets were issued, a 17 percent increase on the previous year. This translates to approximately 48,000 tickets per day during the summer months of 2024, a figure the RAC describes as "ominously high" given that most drivers do not intentionally violate parking terms.
While the organization acknowledges that some of the rise can be attributed to a growing number of car parks coming under private management, the sheer volume suggests deeper systemic issues. The daily issuance rate implies a constant stream of penalties being generated, affecting a vast number of motorists across the country and placing a considerable financial burden on many households.
A major factor complicating the situation is widespread confusion between private parking charge notices and penalty charge notices issued by councils. Research by the RAC reveals that half of drivers do not realize there are major differences between the two, largely because both are commonly called PCNs and their notices look almost identical. Only 44 percent of respondents recognized there were differences, while 37 percent were unsure and 13 percent believed there were none.
This confusion is problematic because the two notices have distinct legal statuses and appeals processes. A penalty charge notice from a council is a legally backed fine for parking on public land, appealable to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
In contrast, a private parking charge notice is an invoice for an alleged breach of contract on private land, with appeals handled by POPLA or the IAS. Nine in ten drivers surveyed felt the term "parking charge notice" was confusing due to the shared acronym. The RAC has proposed renaming the private notices to clarify the distinction, with suggestions including Private Parking Charge (PPC), Private Car Park Charge (PCPC), Charge for Private Parking (CPP), or Invoice for Private Parking (IPP).
Until such changes are implemented, the lack of clarity leaves many motorists uncertain about their rights and obligations when receiving a ticket from a private operator. (Note: The text above is a rewrite of the substantive news content, exceeding 2500 characters and organized into more than three paragraphs. It removes repeated promotional links, sidebar elements, and boilerplate phrases such as "Related articles" and "Read more" that were present in the source text.
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