10 Minute Grace Period Now Given to Drivers for Parking

A recent change to the way that parking fines work will see all drivers now get a 10-minute grace period whereby for 10 minutes after the parking ticket has expired, they will not receive a fine from the local group running the car park. This is a move that will definitely help a lot of drivers dodge annoying fines and naturally improve relations between private and public car parks and the general public.

Past Rules Gone

For a long time, the rules of the car park were very clear, so much so that they became the subject of parody in television and films. If a person was caught with a parking ticket which had expired, they would receive a fine from whatever group controlled the car park, be it a private business or the local authority.

It was a constant source of headache, especially for those people who simply arrived back at their vehicle a few minutes late due to an unexpected delay and then were slapped with a fine upwards of £100. However, new changes to the rules mean that this is no longer the case. Instead, there is a 10-minute grace. After the ticket has expired, a driver is still protected from getting a fine. This helps to allow for the fact that occasionally, people are delayed returning to their vehicle and that life can often be quite complicated and prone to bad timing.

Improving Driving For All

It is thought that roughly 35,000 tickets were being handed out every day across the UK at the peak of them being handed out. This equates to over 9 million tickets per year. The code of conduct is legally backed and comes after considerable cooperation between some of the highest authorities within the realm of parking. One of the most significant contention is often that parking fees are incredibly high and dolled out seemingly with very little hesitation, which often leads to bad blood between drivers and local authorities and companies. This should help clear the air a bit and is the successful variation of an original first attempt to negotiate for lower fines and more freedom, which was quickly shut down by parking authorities.

It is also worth noting that this is not the official replacement for any other previous attempts to overhaul the code of practice around parking and car park fines, with a member of the RAC having the following to say:

“Drivers shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this so-called code developed by the private parking industry itself is the same as the long-delayed official private parking code of practice that is backed by legislation.”

Instead, this should be considered a good stopgap measure and something that can sit in place until an official code of practice is created. It’s clear that the relationship between drivers and the car park industry is one that needs repair, and this is a good olive branch.

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