Regulators probe parking fines handed to drivers queueing at petrol stations

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether private parking operators issued unlawful penalty notices to motorists waiting in fuel-station queues — fines that can reach £100 per ticket.

The Competition and Markets Authority has launched a formal investigation into parking tickets issued to drivers queuing at petrol stations.
The probe is part of a wider CMA crackdown on potentially unfair practices by private parking operators across the UK.
Penalty charge notices from private operators typically run to £60, rising to £100 if unpaid within 14 days.
Motorists caught in queue-related enforcement argue they were ticketed for waiting to use the very facility the car park serves.
The CMA has powers to require operators to change their practices or face court action.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority confirmed Thursday it is investigating parking tickets issued to drivers who were queuing at petrol station forecourts — fines of up to £100 per notice — as part of a broader regulatory review of the private parking industry.

The CMA's inquiry, announced via its official case register, targets what the authority describes as potentially unfair enforcement practices. Private operators, who manage the majority of off-street car parks in England and Wales under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, issue penalty charge notices independently of local councils and are subject to different appeals rules.

A driver queuing for a pump can find a notice issued by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera before the queue has moved ten feet.

The CMA has not named specific operators under investigation. The authority holds powers under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to seek court undertakings or injunctions against businesses found to be engaging in unfair commercial practices.

The petrol station ticket probe runs alongside the regulator's existing scrutiny of private parking more broadly — a sector that collected an estimated £1.8 billion in charges and fines in 2023, according to the British Parking Association's own published figures.

The CMA did not specify how many tickets are under review. The operators declined to comment.