Classic car-owning East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight, who chairs the Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group, has changed the law to stop motorists being ripped off when parking. His private member’s bill, the Parking (Code of Practice) Act, gained the support of all parties and has been passed by both Houses of Parliament.
Sir Greg has hit the headlines by being in favour of MoT exemption for historic vehicles, but this move seems much more positive. Following the ban on wheel clamping in 2012, privately-issued parking ‘tickets’ had soared to 4.7 million last year, with one given out every seven seconds and many of these issued in dubious circumstances. Sir Greg’s Act requires the introduction of a code of practice for private parking companies to prevent motorists being unfairly treated.
Sir Greg said: “The majority of car park operators are honest and fair, but a number of unscrupulous rogues are undermining the whole sector with sharp practices.
“Dodgy operators have been engaging in dubious activities such as unclear signage, ticketing people whist they are getting change or when the parking payment machines are out of order. Until now the law was powerless to prevent this”.
“The scales needed to be rebalanced, so the system is fair for motorists and my act will stamp out rogues in the parking industry”.
The Jensen-owning MP considers himself lucky, because in each parliamentary session only one per cent of MPs manage to change the law through the private member’s bill procedure. The Government will now be required to consult on the contents of a code of practice, which Greg’s law mandates them to introduce. The act will also introduce a transparent and fair appeals process for those who have received a parking penalty notice.
